Only Death Awaits
by luv animemanga forever
Summary: " You okay?" He smiled again then took a step forward, heavy and urgent pants escaped his cracked lips. The blade fell out of his grasp with a dull clang as he reached out his hand shakily to slightly brush his sister's cheek before tumbling down. " Hansel!"
1. Chapter 1

**ONLY DEATH AWAITS...**

* * *

_A "Hansel and Gretel" fanfiction_

_Hansel centric_

_Genre:__ Angst, Tragedy, Hurt/ Comfort, Family_

_Warning:__ This is a DARK fanfiction that includes torture, suicidal thoughts and attempts, violence, psychological problems, abandonment, incest, etc._

_Pairing:__ HanselGretel, (a little) BenGretel_

_Disclaimer:__ I do not own the plot of "Hansel and Gretel: the witch hunters" or any of the characters in this film._

_Do __**NOT**__ attempt to read this if you dislike any/ all of the above._

_You have been warned!_

_And for the rest who are staying, please enjoy._

* * *

_**Chapter 1:**_ Injured

* * *

They were witch hunters, they were the heroes of many towns and villages. They were the saviours of many who fell prey to those vicious and hideous dark witches. However, more importantly, they were brother and sister. They looked out for each other, took care of each other and helped each other out in needed times. Hansel loved his sister, his sister loved him. She was worried about the slightest of wounds on his body when they first started out as hunters, but he would waved it off with a faked and sheepish smile, saying that he was fine and that she shouldn't worry too much. Even so, whenever she was injured, he would hold her tightly in his arms, apologizing for nothing. Gretel had to reassured her brother that she was all right, no harm done, yet, he just kept on saying he was sorry. When he stopped saying that, Gretel could still see that regretful and sour look in his eyes every time he saw the wounds on her body and face. Though he quickly controlled himself with a smile, she could still see it.

And damn, she hated that smile with a passion.

She didn't know when it had started, but somehow, that smile had developed its place on those lips, and now, when she had finally stopped to look back, she couldn't take it off anymore. He was always smiling with that easy-going attitude of his. It was frustrating really because he never actually opened himself up to anyone, not even his sister. Since when had the only expressions he ever worn on his face was either due to the seriousness of situations, pain, fake happiness or the occasional worry because she was hurt? Since when did he get so distant? They were still close, yes, very close in fact, but Gretel could feel a wall being put up between her and her brother. What lay under that smile? She wanted to know. She had to know.

But she couldn't. He wouldn't let her in. What should she do?

" Alright, we've got ourselves some dinner." Came Hansel's voice, snapping Gretel out of her train of thoughts as she looked up at him from the fire she had just made. Quite a big boar was thrown down to the ground in front of her, already cleaned and gutted, Hansel smiled cheerfully. " Quite a feast, don't you think, Gretel?"

" Yes, quite a _grand_ feast. Good job." She smiled at him and Ben, they both had gone into the woods to bring back something for dinner while Edward and her stayed behind to gather twigs and necessary things to build a fire and something to lie on instead of contacting the ground directly. Hansel had said that Ben needed more experiences in these sort of things.

" The only thing missing is wine!" Hansel complained with a slight whining voice, eyebrows furrowing as if he was deep in thoughts. Gretel couldn't help but snort.

" Don't say that, brother. I'm sure you can't handle much wine even if you want to." _' But of course you'll never want to. I have never seen you drink pass two cups.'_

" Oh come on, I can-!" Gretel spun immediately over to where her brother was when she heard a sharp hiss coming out of his mouth as he was bending down. His face contorted with pain as his hand went up to clutch his side protectively, Hansel was obviously hurt.

" Hansel! Hansel, are you okay? What's wrong?! Speak to me!" She helped her brother down and leaned him back to a tree trunk nearby. His teeth was gritting together, sweat beading down his forehead as his eyes were squeezed shut, but he didn't utter a single word either from the pain or he wasn't planning on telling her.

" H-he... Hansel was-!" Ben stuttered as Gretel turned to look at him, this was probably the reason why the boy looked pale and acted to jumpy when they got back. Hansel must have told him to keep quiet even though he hadn't wanted to.

" Ben!" Hansel's voice was loud and commanding even though he was hurt. His chest was heaving as his narrowed eyes glared daggers at Ben, threatening him not to spill another word. It did succeed on intimidating the boy as Ben looked terrified as though he had seen a witch.

" Tell me, Ben." Brown eyes turned to look at her, fear shone in them, it seemed that Ben was even more afraid of Hansel than any other witches they had faced. Gretel schooled her face to look as calm as possible that moment and looked him in the eyes. " Ben, what happened?" Sensing that her brother was going to open his mouth again to stop Ben from speaking up, she squeezed her hand around his forearm, preventing that from happening.

" I-... It was all my fault. The boar was there and Hansel told me to draw its attention and he was going to shoot it down, but I... I was too scared! When it started chasing after me, I couldn't run fast enough, and it was catching up with me, so I-... I..." The look of guilt painted on his face as Ben bit down his lower lip.

" Yes, Ben?" Gretel urged him to continue after taking a glance at her older brother, who then looked like he was going use his gun and make Ben shut up.

" I ran and hid behind Hansel. The boar caught up, and Hansel couldn't react in time... He had to hold it down with his bare hands so I could shoot it."

" What?!" Gretel turned back to look at her brother, who looked away to avoid her eye. " Damn it, Hansel! You could have just told me, you know! Let me see it!"

Despite her saying so, Hansel kept a vice like grip onto his side, not wanting for her to look at the injury even though the motion just served to hurt him more than before. Gretel's fingers kept on digging in, determined to get his hand off of his own wound. " Hansel! Let me see it!" She demanded as used as much force as she could to push his hand away without hurting him further than he already was doing to himself.

" Hansel." Gretel panted slightly as she looked at him. " We don't have time for this. Worry about your dignity later on after I have taken care of the injury, will you? It's getting dark, and you know full well how witches tend to crawl out during night time." Her voice was calm and serious as her hand squeezed softly around his own, silently told him to listen to her. Hansel turned to look at his sister, after a couple of moments, slowly, he let go of his hand. Relief washed over Gretel face as she immediately assessed the situation.

His clothes was already torn around that spot, and the wound was swelling and bleeding pretty badly, the boar's tusk no doubt had caused this. Damn it, Hansel. Gretel cursed under her breath as she told Ben to grab her some bandages. They didn't bring a long any cooking utensils, so there wasn't anything to boil the water to disinfect his wound. Only bandages would have to do until they reach the next town by perhaps the following day. The boy scrambled to open up the bag and brought what was needed over to Gretel. There was only a little of it left, just enough to change his bandage if necessary once or twice. Damn it.

Gretel was about to take off Hansel's shirt when his hand came up to stop her. " I can do it myself."

" Don't be stubborn, and just let me do it. I'm your sister, remember? If you let Mina do it, why can't I?" Hansel's eyes widened for a fraction of a second before averting them back to the ground. Gretel immediately shut her mouth, she had unintentionally touched something she shouldn't. It just came flying out of her mouth before she could help it. " I- I'm sorry, Hansel. I shouldn't have-..."

" No." He looked at her then smiled apologetically, letting out what sounded like a tired sigh. " It's okay. I should be the one to say sorry. You were trying to help, and I was just... I don't know, being an ass I guess." Then he chuckled ever so softly, hand brushing against her.

Gretel just kept quiet and undid his shirt, she knew it for a fact that Hansel was trying to make her feel better... he had always had, always trying to make her feel better, whether she was saying the right words, doing the right things or not. Hansel had always been sweet despite acting like he didn't really care sometimes. Gretel knew that Hansel did have a kind of special feeling for Mina, she had helped him a lot, and with her letting out her last breath in his arms... It must have hurt him, no matter how short their time together was.

Using the clean water Ben had brought over, she tore a part of bandage and soaked it before gently cleaning the wound. She could tell her brother's body jolted slightly the moment the rag touched his swollen skin, but Gretel couldn't afford to stop then. This had to be done, sooner or later. Slowly, the gash was cleaned and was then only bleeding somewhat as the little sister wrapped fresh bandages around Hansel's abdomen, covering it up nice and tight. Hansel's grey eyes studied his sister's handy work when she was done before looking up at her again with a small smile.

" Thank you."

" It's nothing." She murmured quietly and pushed up his shirt again then stood up, leaving the rest for him to deal with on his own, he could manage that much. Bending down next to the boar, she helped Ben shave the fur of the animal then told Edward to lift it up and roast it on the open fire.

The sun set quite quickly afterwards, painting the sky with an orange and purple hue then disappeared below the horizon. It would take a while for the boar to be cooked completely so they cut out the part that had been exposed to the fire first before turning the thing a little. It was good meat, Gretel used her blade to pierce through the meat and ate it elegantly. Then there was Ben ( who brought a long his own set of handmade wooden plates, spoons, bowls and forks and lent it to everyone except for Edward because the troll said he wasn't using it ) eating in quite a relaxed way, but still very much wary that Hansel would pay him back for telling Gretel earlier. Edward was eating with one hand holding the meat while the other one hungrily picked up the perfectly roasted pieces of pork.

And Hansel? He was Edward with a plate. That was about to sum it up. Gretel sighed, she should have persisted him on exercising _better_ manners than that. Just like how he kept on tossing and turning every time he slept on the floor then ended up in the dark and dusty space under the bed. She couldn't understand why, sometimes when they were short on money and had to hire a single room, she could understand where he was coming from by insisting on sleeping on the floor. However, when their pockets were full of money, he would still keep on telling her to hire a single room so he could sleep on the floor next to her bed. The same goes for when they were offered a double room by the town people. Hansel just simply refused to sleep on beds, and Gretel couldn't really understand it... Was he trying to protect her? Even so, what was the point if he slept like a log? And it's not like she couldn't fend for herself anyway. The one needed fending was Ben without his gun. She had already tried talking to him about it before, but he just changed the subject instantly after telling her that he just liked to sleep on the floor.

And the night stretched on with small chatters and laughter...

* * *

It was a hot day, sweat was pouring out profusely on his forehead and whole body just by moving. Hansel huffed slightly as he kept on walking forward determinedly, lying to himself that the discomfort and occasional jolt of pain in his side was his own imagination drawing it up to trick him due to the intense heat. Grey eyes strayed toward his sister's back just a few steps ahead, Hansel bit down on his lip and told himself not to make anymore unnecessary sound or movement that could make his sister suspect that he wasn't feeling well. Of course he was feeling fine. Perfectly fine!

_Yes, keep on telling yourself that_. He thought sarcastically to himself, he wouldn't be the one to lag behind the whole group like Ben... Yes, that boy just carried around too many junks, he should give up on one or two things if he wanted to move faster than this. And not to mention the way his eyes kept on sweeping over to Gretel whenever she wasn't paying attention. Hansel didn't like it because he knew what that kind of action meant. Although it seemed like Gretel hadn't realized that he was looking, and Ben himself hadn't realized why he was doing such a thing, Hansel had still got to keep an eye on Ben. The thought of having someone touching his little sister didn't sit well with him. Not to mention the fact that the boy was down right strange. Yes, he was strange. Not that he was saying witch hunting wasn't strange, but the boy was strange enough on his own, and now with him being on a witch hunting team just bring this up to a whole different level.

But how could he even call himself a witch hunter when a boar could hurt him this easily anyway?

How far until they could reach the next town though? He needed to clean up this wound since he was starting to think trash... but the last one was true enough. Hansel knew that he was weak, weaker than his sister perhaps, and he wasn't that smart either. He had known that since they were younger, and that had shown clearly the moment they were up against that witch in the house made of candy in those woods long long ago... He didn't have the will nor the strength to fight against her until his sister bravely set him free when the witch was about to throw him into the burning oven. If she hadn't, he wouldn't even be alive with only this disease that he believed Mina had called "diabetes" before her untimely death.

Anyhow, the heat was still unbearable. He concluded in his mind and pushed himself to walk forward with an acceptable speed. What was he good for if he wasn't strong, smart or completely healthy? That horrible Muriel of a witch would have been finished sooner if he hadn't had this messed up disease that required a shot every few hours... After that night in the woods with the ginger witch, Hansel had silently swore that he would do everything he could with himself to protect his sister, not the other way around. However, through the course of time, he learnt that Gretel had saved him more times than he had hoped... And truth to be told, he was ashamed of himself, he wasn't worthy of a brother, he wasn't worthy to be Gretel's brother. The only thing he could successfully do was to joke around, piss her off, worry her and let her save him...

Good Lord, he was pathetic. He didn't want her to know how pathetic he was, that is if she hadn't already known.

" Hansel... Hansel. Hansel!"

Snapping up to look, he found that Gretel was already three steps away from him. Since when had she gotten this close? And how did he end up holding onto a tree trunk, panting? There was possibly nothing Hansel could do to ease up the situation at hand but to blindly smile at her.

" Yes, Gretel?" One final grip before letting go as Hansel straightened up as best as he could.

" Don't give me that." His smile almost faltered, but he maintained it smoothly. " The wound is bothering you, isn't it." It was a statement, not a question. He didn't answer it and pushed her hand away as it was making its way to his throbbing, sweat-covered side.

" I'm fine, Gretel." He looked at her, hoping/ begging for her to believe him and squeezed his grip around her hand. There was Ben and Edward, a boy and a troll, and he still didn't want to look weak and helpless just because of a small wound in front of the both of them. With just Gretel was far more than enough. And Mina... well, the only reason why he let her examine his injuries was because it did hurt, falling down from a tall tree with your back and head first before you could even prepare yourself hurt, a lot. He needed to regain his strength, so... One thing led to another... and Mina was just a mere stranger then. She didn't talk much to anyone else, he doubted she would go around telling everybody that she had tended for Hansel as in Hansel and Gretel, the witch hunters. And she wasn't Gretel...

A moment passed by, those brown eyes tore away from his gaze with a sigh as relief washed over him. They continued their trip, everything was still the same except for the fact that Gretel was then walking beside him, no doubt trying to keep an eye on him. Hansel mentally cursed at himself for being such a weakling, so he decided to start up a topic about witches then let Ben do all the talking and pestering Gretel to answer his questions. Hansel knew that the kid had a thing for his little sister, but this had to be done if he didn't want to have her full attention being focused solely on him.

It did just the trick.

* * *

Hansel headed out to the stream nearby to fetch fresh water while the rest of the group stayed behind and prepared lunch. Gretel protested against it, but using his right and authority as the eldest, excluding Edward, Hansel walked away with their water canteens.

Shrugging off his black leather protective jacket, Hansel lifted up his under shirt and quickly peeled off the layer of bandages to find it swelling even worse than he last saw it. The heat and sweat and all of this walking must have caused it. Dipping them into the water, Hansel pressed the cooling rags onto his burning wound to ease up the pain and discomfort. Biting down onto his lip to keep himself from hissing aloud, he didn't want Gretel to hear it even though he was sure that the stream itself was out of earshot from their stop. Despite that being so, he couldn't help but feel a little unease, Gretel's hearing was exceptionally good.

And so, Hansel kept on washing up his wound while keeping his mind occupied with not really reassuring thoughts about how Gretel wouldn't find out what he was doing here aside from getting some water. He felt like a little child trying to sneak out and play behind his mother's back though it was supposed to be napping time. He chuckled at the thought, he actually had done that with Gretel when they were still ten-year-old children or something. Sneaking out to play hide and seek in the woods while waiting with swelling anticipation of getting caught by either or both of their parents then laughed and ran around, challenging them to catch his sister and him. Those were the good old times... And now they were still playing in forests, but there was no one who would come to fetch them home if they were late...

" Having fun, are we?"

Hansel spun around.

* * *

Gretel was worried, the moment Hansel strolled off with the canteens in his hands, she didn't feel at all alright to let him go off on his own when he was wounded like that.

" _Listen to me for once, Gretel."_ The words had pierced through her ears like needles, Hansel had never actually said anything that was similar to such. It bothered her, she knew for a fact that Hansel was trying to relief the discomfort in his wound without her being needed. She respected him, yes, but... Gretel couldn't but let him go alone in the forest like that even though this was sort of a familiar place because they had gone passed here once or twice. Looking at the abandoned gun Hansel had left behind in his haste, Gretel stood up and brought along her trusted crossbow... just in case.

After walking long and winded steps to the direction her brother headed to, Gretel couldn't help but feel that she must talk to him about this afterwards. She couldn't afford having him like this... worrying so much over his dignity even though all of them were the closest to him and ones he could trust also, especially her. She was his sister for crying aloud. She had seen and taken care of his injuries more than enough, so there was-...

Wait... Was that the reason why he was acting like this? The thought made Gretel feel very much curious, and she was determined to ask him later on to clarify this. There was no way she would let this continue any longer.

Then she heard the rustling of dried leaves and loud thudding then they accompanied by a painful and choked shouting...

" Hansel?! Hansel!" She cried out and ran forward, preparing her weapon for battle. No, no, no... please don't let anything happen to him, please... She begged in her mind much like how she had done so while running in search for her brother after hearing that he had been dragged away into the forest during the time that rotten witch Muriel was still around.

Then she saw a dark and strange figure standing, it definitely wasn't Hansel and, immediately, the trigger on her crossbow was pulled, sharp and straight arrows shot out from their slots. It immediately moved away to avoid her piercing arrows and revealed Hansel lying there unmoving on the ground.

" Hansel!" Gretel shouted aloud, running to her brother's side. His leather shirt was laying quite far away from him, and the white undershirt was now stained with dirt, mud and Hansel's own blood. The crimson liquid caked his hair and bruised face, cuts and gashes were bleeding all over his body. He must have been attacked unexpectedly... it didn't even look like he was able to respond to all of this beating. " Hansel... Hansel!" He wasn't responding and Gretel's blood boiled up inside of her.

Snatching her crossbow, Gretel stood up after carefully laying her brother down onto the ground. The damn witch must have been lurking around and grabbed the perfect chance seeing as Hansel was hurt and not carrying his gun with him. Brown eyes darted around, observing, waiting for the foul creature to make its first move, and when the tree rustled even just for a bit, arrows shot out towards that direction, earning a satisfying scream.

The witch fell down onto the ground, snapping its head over to glare at Gretel before dashing forward, ready to go all out on the witch hunter. However, as it claws were inches away from Gretel's face with her about to bend down to strike it in the stomach, a slashing sound could be heard when that incredibly sharp and shiny blade Hansel had always kept polished and sharpened plunged into the creature's throat with a sickening sound of gurgling as blood splashed out from the wound. The witch's head was half way hanging off her shoulders, drops and drops of bluish blood splattered on Hansel's face and torso.

" Hansel...?" Gretel's brown eyes were widened as she stared with disbelief as her brother, who was supposed to be unconscious. He panted shallow breaths then averted his eyes to looked at her, his pupils were dilating. This was bad.

" You okay?" He smiled again, heavy and urgent pants escaped his lips as he took a step forward, the blade fell out of his grasp with a dull clang then reached out shakily to slightly brush his sister's cheek before tumbling down.

" Hansel!" She yelled out in surprise and pulled his battered body into her arms immediately, bracing herself so that her legs wouldn't falter and give away when she needed badly for them to stay strong. Slowly, she managed to get them out of that bloody mess of a witch and sat down onto a fresh patch of grass with his head in her lap. Only then did she realized that the back of his head was bleeding profusely. " Hansel. Hansel!" She desperately called out, patting his cheek gently, but her brother remained unresponsive despite moving with stunning speed just a moment ago.

" BEN! EDWARD! HELP! BEN! EDWARD!"

Gretel screamed at the top of her lungs, praying that those two would hear her. Hansel was in grave danger, and he was slowly slipping away, she could tell. Fighting back the tears and pile in her throat, Gretel focused on calling out her brother's name, trying to wake him up. Being unconscious at a time like this could be fatal, that much she knew as the girl kept on shaking her brother, calling out his name, begging him to open his eyes.

And he did as she could see grey iris peeking out from underneath those eyelids, but they were unfocused and glazed over, he was looking at something before turning to her direction. It seemed like Hansel was looking at her, but she knew well that he wasn't, it was rather he was looking _through_ her, those eyes were unseeing just like how they would be if they were closed.

Fear spread throughout her entire being, shaking her up from the core. Biting down hard on her lip to stop herself from crying, Gretel blamed herself for letting him go out all alone in the woods like that. She shouldn't have let him do that even if it had been him who had persisted on doing so. Dear Lord, it hurt. It hurt more than any injuries she had endured during all her years working as a witch hunter.

From afar, she could hear Ben and Edward rushing toward them as Gretel's hands tightened protectively around elder brother before leaning down to whisper into his ears.

" It's okay. You're going to be fine, Hansel. This will never happen again. I'll protect you, Hansel. I'll find a way to heal you. I promise... So please... please don't leave me. Please Hansel... I beg you... stay. Please..."

_You're all that I have left, Hansel._

* * *

_To be continued..._

* * *

_**A/N:**_I guess I'm too into Hansel and Gretel to resist writing a fic about them! . I won't abandon my other fic though, I promise! Please Read and Review! Tell me what you think about this! _  
_


	2. Chapter 2

**ONLY DEATH AWAITS...**

* * *

_A "Hansel and Gretel" fanfiction_

_Hansel centric_

_Genre: Angst, Tragedy, Hurt/ Comfort, Family_

_Warning: This is a DARK fanfiction that includes torture, suicidal thoughts and attempts, violence, psychological problems, abandonment, incest, etc._

_Pairing: HanselGretel, (a little) BenGretel_

_Disclaimer: I do not own the plot of "Hansel and Gretel: witch hunters" or any of the characters in this film._

_Do **NOT** attempt to read this if you dislike any/ all of the above._

_You have been warned!_

_And for the rest who are staying, please enjoy._

* * *

_**Chapter 2:**_Stay

* * *

Hansel felt like he was floating in mid-air as the world around him shook, going up and down in a strange rhythm that seemed to blend everything together, turning all into a mess of blurred images. There was this voice that was calling, was it calling him? He couldn't focus his mind nor could he pinpoint whose voice that was. It was just familiar and... dear to him as his heart ached to reach out and ease the fear and pain that was welling up more and more as it called out a name repeatedly. The only things Hansel actually noticed quite clearly then was how his head was hurting fiercely and that the said voice was his only source of comfort to this blinding pain that was seeping into his every cell.

Then a name found its way to his lips, rolling down his tongue smoothly like silk.

" Gretel..."

His sister was calling for him.

* * *

" Hansel. Hansel, stay with me!" Gretel called out, looking every now and then over to her brother, who then was being carried by Edward. His blood was gradually soaking the troll's shirt and the thin blanket that was draped over him. All the bandages they had left wasn't helping either as they weren't enough to cover all the wounds he had, so Grete decided to control the bleeding gash behind his head first before anything else. Even so, she could slowly see that the blood was seeping through it, staining the fabric with red. Gretel felt like her heart was being twisted inside her chest.

After Ben and Edward arrived, she and Ben carefully lifted Hansel up and positioned him so that Edward could easily carry him on his back. Gretel had picked up her brother's blade and leather jacket then quickly disposed the corpse of the dead witch with malice and venom in her eyes. She had regretted not staying longer to see the rotten witch burn to ashes, but Hansel would always be her first priority.

Since then, she had been calling out his name on the whole way back to their stop, trying her best to keep him conscious, or at least to prevent his eyes from closing. They needed to get him to the next town as fast as possible and find the medicine man for him. With just a little bandages left, they would never be able to give Hansel the most effective and necessary treatment.

" Gretel..."

Snapping to her side, Gretel swore she just heard him calling out her name. It was just a faint whisper, but she heard it. And those eyes, those grey eyes then seemed so much clearer than a minute ago as they looked at her. A weak and shaky hand tried to reach out to her as Gretel caught it gently.

" Gretel..." She moved closer to be able to hear him better as his lips moved softly. " Why are you so sad...?"

Fighting back the overwhelming stabbing pain in her heart, Gretel blinked the tears away and squeezed his calloused hand gently. " I-I'm fine, Hansel. I'm fine." She tried to smile, but failed miserably in the process.

Hansel missed it though, he had missed her lop-sided smile because he was seeing yet not seeing at the same time. The fact just hurt her even more.

He smiled again, but it was very weak this time. " Good..." His voice was nowhere above a whisper as she had to train her ears to listen to his words. The wind wasn't really helping it either, but they couldn't afford to stop running, not now. " You just... tell me whoever- it is that's... hurting you and I'll... give him a good beating. All right?" His breathing was ragged as a soft chuckled escaped his cracked lips, Gretel couldn't help but laugh slightly.

" Yes. I'll hold you to that, Hansel."

And they talked, small talks about everything that popped up inside Gretel's mind just to keep her brother awake. However, as time stretched on, Edward's legs were growing slower, Ben was lagging behind, and Hansel's words were starting to become slurred and incoherent at some points, his grip was slowly loosening. The invisible daggers in her heart were being driven and twisted more and more.

Where was the next town?! They should have arrived there by now! Where was it?!

Then just as they made it through the bushes, the town was right there, just a little bit further and they would be there. Suddenly, Gretel made a sharp turned as they just ran along the edge of town without actually entering it. After another while of running with everything they had got left in them, they ended up in front of a seemingly rundown place in the woods as the sister knocked on the door urgently without letting go of her brother's hand.

" Arnold! Arnold, are you in there? It's me, Gretel."

The door slowly opened slightly with a loud creak, a middle aged man with short curly dirty blond hair and a pair of round glasses over his eyes appeared.

" Yes?" Low and scratchy voice spoke up as the man eyed the group warily.

" Please help Hansel." Was what Gretel immediately said with pure desperation. " Please help my brother, Arnold. He's in grave danger!"

" He ran out of medicine for his shots again?" The man asked skeptically. Gretel glared at him then lifted up the blanket that had been covering her brother up. Adjusting his glasses, the man frowned deeply before stepping aside. " Come in."

* * *

" What happened?" He asked, looking at the multiple wounds all over Hansel's body.

" A witch attacked when his guard was down." Gretel answered simply. " Help him."

" What _can_ I do? This is not my specialty."

" Everything you can, Arnold."

* * *

Ben sighed and slumped down onto a wooden chair, his legs were starting to get numb from all the running. He had never felt so glad in his life to be able to just sit down in a strange, unfamiliar place and put all the stuff off his back. Edward must have been worn out as well, with Hansel on his back along with a blanket draping over him in this kind of heat. He knew that Hansel wasn't at all that light to begin with, judging from the size of his body that is. Ben just couldn't and would try to refrain from thinking about how back-breaking it would feel to be carrying that man.

" Are you okay?" He asked and the troll nodded with his signature grunt.

And who was this Arnold anyway? Why was Gretel asking the man to help Hansel? Was he even capable of doing that?

Personally, Ben saw the man as untrustworthy, especially when his rundown of a house was in the middle of nowhere and everything. He even seemed like he was annoyed to be seeing them at his doorstep just then. Therefore, Ben didn't like him. He just hoped that Gretel was right for bringing Hansel here...

* * *

Gretel bit down her lip and tried to swallow down the lump in her throat that was growing larger by the second as brother writhed in pain on the bed, her hands holding tightly onto him, doing everything she could to support. Arnold was stitching up the gash on his head, and the man hadn't allowed Hansel any sedatives. After cleaning up her brother's wound with warm water and disinfectant, Gretel had been asked to tie Hansel down, binding both legs and wrists then find him a rag to bite down onto so Arnold could began to work.

Hansel's chest heaved, muscles all tensed up as those grey eyes were watering but no tear spilt out. He was still trying hard to stay strong even under such circumstances.

" Arnold..." Gretel spoke up, desperately wanting to relief even the slightest of pain her brother was going through.

" No. If he takes any sedatives, there's a chance that he will never wake up again. Do you want that?"

Pursing her lips together into a thin line, Gretel found it best to keep quiet and averted her full attention back to Hansel, squeezing his hand, letting him know that she was still there. Brown eyes caught sight of the multiple drops of blood on the ground, her own brother's blood, she quickly turned away. She had seen blood, a lot of it actually, so Gretel could say for sure that she was no stranger to it, her profession required it to be so. However, seeing Hansel blood, spilling so very needlessly like that... hurt.

" Hang on, Hansel... Hang on..." She whispered, praying with all she might to the souls of their deceased parents to watch over him, protect him, and help him live.

* * *

The next time Gretel appeared, her hands, trousers and a part of that white shirt was splattered with blood, Ben refrained himself from throwing up at the sight.

" I-I need some help to carry Hansel over to another room." She sounded dried and scratchy.

Edward and Ben stood up and went over to her, Ben had no idea what the troll was thinking, but he could say that he himself dreaded what he was about to see in the room that Arnold had taken Hansel and Gretel in.

" Ben, I need you to go and buy me some milk and honey. Just go straight up ahead, and you'll be able to see the town." Her voice was nowhere above a whisper, quiet but demanding when she told him that then gave five silver coins to him before entering the room once again with Edward behind her. A few seconds later, the boy swung the door opened and rushed outside.

* * *

Bandages, Hansel's head was covered in bandages, from the top of his head to his jaw and around his forehead. Her heart ached agonizingly to see her brother lying so limply in Edward's arms like that as the troll carried him into the bedroom at the end of the hall way. Those grey eyes were still opened somewhat, staring blankly into space.

_Seeing but not seeing..._

It rang inside her mind, leaving behind a chilling kind of echo that she couldn't at all shake off. Arnold opened the door for them as they stepped into an old and slightly dusty room with a fire place. Edward set Hansel down onto the bed near the window under Gretel's watch, and as the troll was done, she turned and asked Arnold for the kitchen. They needed some hot water prepared while waiting for Ben's return with the items she requested. The man stopped her and told the brunette that he would help her with that. All she had to do was to stay in the room with her brother and look after him.

They left, Edward and Arnold, after she had murmured a 'thank you' as the witch hunter sat down onto the bed next to Hansel and once again held his hand in hers, wanting to keep him awake until the boy returned. Her brother had lost too much blood during the time they ran here, so the risks and stress that he was going through were extremely enormous and dangerous. However, due to the fact that the pain was already excruciating and overwhelming on its own, the effects of all of this on him wouldn't be showing that clearly, not just yet. Even so, like they had always said, being careful was never something unnecessary.

" Hansel... Can you hear me?" She whispered, pressing his rough hand against her cheek, wanting to feel his warmth that she feared would somehow disappeared from her grasps. " Hansel." Her mouth was as dried as a desert as she squeezed his hand tightly, the pulse under his clammy skin was so very weak.

Those glazed grey eyes slowly turned to her as his fingers exhaustedly moved in response to her call as he breathed unevenly, a small smile tugging at the corners of his pale lips. How could he even be smiling at that moment when he life was right there on the line? It was supposed to be soothing, that smile, but it wasn't. It scared her, that smile made it seem like Hansel was really... dying. And she couldn't and wouldn't accept it.

" Miss Gretel!" It was Ben, his footsteps rang throughout the hall before the door to the room burst opened with him running in while holding a steamy cup in his hand, trying hard not to spill a single drop of its content in his urgent haste. Panting for a second of two, Ben finally walked over and handed her the wooden cup with a spoon. " Mr. Arnold told me to give this to you."

Quickly taking it in her hands, Gretel thanked the boy for his assistance before shifting her position somewhat and tasted the milk with a tiny amount of honey blended in it. Normally, anything sweet, like honey and milk, wouldn't be good for Hansel, but now that he had lost so much blood, the sugar level in his body would undoubtedly have dropped accordingly. Arnold had suggested that this should be the best way to help him get his internal balance back quicker without too many complications. Using any forms of drugs could do more harm than good in Hansel's current condition.

Blowing the milk somewhat, Gretel called out for her brother so that his eyes would be fully concentrated on her then spoke slowly and clearly enough for him to comprehend her words. " Hansel, this is milk and honey. Drink it. It will help you."

She nudged the spoon against his lips, tipping somewhat so that a little bit of milk could seep through the gap of his teeth. Even so, not a single drop made it into Hansel's mouth as they dripped down his chin. Gretel used her own sleeve to clean them away then tried again, fear rising rapidly like tides in her heart.

" Please, Hansel. Drink it. Can you hear me? Drink it, Hansel. Please..." Desperation was leaking out in her voice as the spoon was once again pressed again those lips. " Please..." She whispered brokenly, begging her brother to register in his mind what she was saying.

Half-lidded grey eyes stared at her, confusion coursing through them, but it seemed like Hansel's ears had caught up with the words that Gretel kept on repeating as he opened his mouth for her to spoon-feed him the warm milk. " That's right. That's right, Hansel. Drink it." Tears glittered in her bloodshot eyes as she looked at him with relief, happiness was obviously there in her voice, seeing that he was finally complying to what she told him.

Ben excused himself out then closed the door quietly.

* * *

Gretel rested Hansel's back down onto the pillow properly after he had finished drinking more than half of the cup. He had looked like he was about to throw up, so much to her dismay, they had to stop. Even so, more than half a cup was already exceeding her expectation, there was no complaining about it as she sat there beside him, rubbing his hand, praising him for what a good job he had done. His eyes were closing, so completely worn out that she couldn't but let those eyelids flutter closed.

Brown eyes stared at her brother, watching for any signs of changes as he was sound asleep, chest rising and falling evenly though his breaths were still quite shallow. It seemed that his condition was gradually stabilizing. Gretel was happy when she realized that, but it was not yet time to celebrate. His situation wasn't critical anymore, but it could very much slip back there at any given time.

Pulling up the bed cover, Gretel sat there, determined to stay awake and keep an eye on Hansel, there was no room for error, not this time. As time passed by, Gretel found herself started humming the old song she had learnt from her mother, a song that she could only recall its gentle and soothing melody because all was distant memories now. Her mind just vaguely remembered the soft voice of her mother singing the tune every time before they went to bed to lull them to sleep. She had recalled how it would almost certain calm Hansel whenever it was sung, therefore, Gretel had made a mental note when they were still children that she would learn the song for her brother. In the end, the lyrics were gone with the wind, but Hansel kept on reassuring her that it was fine, that he himself didn't even remember the song, so there was nothing for her to fuss about.

Gretel had been skeptical, it used to be his favorite song, and she knew how people could hardly ever get over their favorite things. However, she let it slide, it belonged in their far, far childhood, so his words could may have been true. It was such a shame that she couldn't hear it again no matter how many towns they had gone through, no one sang the song that their mother had sung for them. Gradually, she realized that perhaps it was a song their mother had thought up and sung for them... The thought only served to sadden her more though Gretel had brushed it away as quickly as she could. Dwelling on the past had never been good, they had never been ones to look back on their lives, especially Hansel. Hansel had always been the one to avoid anything related to their parents, saying that they had taken a vow not to speak about that subject.

Though he might put on this tough-guy act and say it like he didn't really care, Gretel knew that Hansel thought about their parents all the time. At least she thought so... she hoped so because like she had said, they never talked about these things. However, sometimes, those grey eyes would stray outside the windows, looking far into the distance, deep in thoughts. Perhaps those were the times when Hansel would start thinking about the past, Gretel just hoped it was the case...

And so she continued to hum while holding on tightly to his large and still warm hand, rubbing it gently to, in a way, let him know that she was right there beside him.

Time stretched on and Gretel's mouth was turning dried as her voice began to sound scratchy, but in didn't matter to her as she kept on humming. Ever since the first note left her throat, the crease of his eyebrows and tension in his muscles were slowly loosening, fading away as he became more and more relaxed. That was enough, seeing that this was helping her brother even in the most insignificant of way was the only reward that she searched for.

Her eyes watched him as he drifted away in much needed rest, it had been such a long time since she last saw him in a bed, and it felt so very strange. It was comforting in a way because it bothered her much to see him lying on the harsh and cold floor, injured or not. They almost argued once about it, but Hansel managed to shut his mouth and things just sort of ended there. She kept telling him to sleep in a proper bed, it would have certainly been far better with the soft mattress and pillow, but no, he had never agreed then jumped to another subject altogether.

Soft knocks sounded against the door before it opened slightly to reveal Ben peeking in slowly, Gretel had stopped singing for a while already, she didn't want anyone else to be hearing it but her brother.

" What is it, Ben?" She asked after clearing her voice. The boy looked like he had been snapped out of a momentarily trance then stepped into the room with an awkward look.

" I-uh..." His eyes strayed down to the ground, finding a hard time stating his thoughts. Funny how that very same boy would seem to talk endlessly and so fluently whenever it involved witch hunting and anything that was related. _Just like Hansel..._ Gretel thought to herself. Her brother was tough and harsh when a witch needed to be terminated, but when it came to talking strangers that weren't their employers, he didn't seem so tough and harsh anymore. " I came to see if you needed a rest or not, miss Gretel. You have been watching him for quite a long time already."

" Oh? How long exactly?" She asked, wondering skeptically if what he said was true because, apparently, it didn't seem that long, not to her.

" Three or four hours?" At this, Gretel raised an eyebrow. Thinking about the past and her brother while humming the song must have made her lose track of time.

" Oh, it's that so..." Her voice trailed away, she didn't even realize that so much time had gone by.

" Then... do you want me to take over so you can rest? Just for a while to, you know, do some washing up?"

Brown eyes stared at each other for a while as Gretel contemplate on what to do. She didn't want to leave Hansel's side, not now, not ever... but as her eyes looked down at her hand and his own intertwined then the image of all the dried blood and dirt on his body flashed before her eyes. They had only managed to clean the wounds so Arnold could patch them up, not the entire of his body. And she had to wash the clothes that they were using as bandages for Hansel also, they were running short on clean bandages.

After one or two moments of reluctance, Gretel bent down and whispered into her brother's ear. " I'll be back in a short while, alright?" It didn't matter if he had heard it or not, so long as she had said it... like she was reassuring Hansel and herself included.

As she stood up from the bed and slowly let go of her brother's hand, uneasiness was rising in her chest, worried that something might happen should she leave him now. Her eyebrows creased, but the witch hunter soon shook it off and walked away. With one last glance, the door was closed behind her.

* * *

_It was dark and cold, a distant sound was echoing. Hansel's body was numb as he tried hard to move his limbs, but who was he kidding? He couldn't even make himself open his eyes. Breathing in and out deeply after a while, he gathered all his strength and willed his eyelids to open up. The soft eerie golden glow filled his blurry vision, that sound was much closer now, and it seemed so very much like a voice... an extremely familiar voice. _

_Where was he? Why was he in this dark space? The smell and everything else just screamed at his tingling senses. He had been here before. Eyes focusing on a point up there at what he supposed to be the ceiling, Hansel finally had it in him to realize something that was very terrifying... This was the gingerbread house... and he was in that damned witch's cage! Rolling over with great effort, he felt ever so small and defenseless as he saw his own tiny fingers touched the steel bars then held on tightly to it. Weak eyes searched around in the dimly lit room... He needed, no, had to find Gretel. This place wasn't safe, that was undoubtly the case. He didn't know why or how they had ended up here, or whether this was real or not, but his only priority then was to find his precious little sister._

_How did this come about? They weren't supposed to be affected by spells, then how had they been thrown back into the past like this?! They had definitely killed and burnt her already! His vision was shaky and blurry as there was this dull throbbing behind his head. Did something happen?!_

_It took a couple of moments for his eyes to focus as he desperately looked around to find the familiar figure of the little girl he cared so much for. What was that sound that kept on ringing in his ears?_

"_HANSEL!"_

_Turning sharply over to where the voice was coming from, Hansel for the first time realized that it was his sister who had been calling for him. That Godforsaken witch had her by the arm as she was trying to pull her over to the only source of light in this smelly and dingy old place, the oven. _

_The little girl was trying to free herself from the grasps of the witch, writhing in vain to get away, tears spilling from her large round brown eyes that were stained with fear, the fear that should have never made it there. _

" _Hansel! Please, help me!"_

_She was screaming for help, small hand and fragile arm reached out toward him, her soft and wavy chocolate here was all tangled up. How did they ended up turning back into these children that they used to be?!_

_Hansel practically threw himself at the steel bars, trying fight his way out and rescue his sister but to no avail. Sorrow, desperation, and this numbing sensation was spreading throughout his whole body, shaking in this helplessness. He screamed, frail arm flung out, calling for his sister but no sound came out of his dried throat. _

" _Help me, Hansel!" Her innocent and soft voice shouldn't have been filled with pain and fear like this. He wanted to break free, run out there and tell her that everything was going to be okay, and that he was there, he wouldn't let anything happen to her. But he couldn't._

_No... No... No. No. No. NO! NO! NO!_

_Where was his gun when he needed it? Where was his strength when his sister was in danger? Where was HE when his sister called?! _

_Why was he so useless?!_

_Gretel. Gretel, no!_

_The witch was pulling her closer and closer to the fiercely burning oven, the sound of her screechy laugh filled the thick and chilly air, it sickened him. _

_Tears were falling out from those orbs nonstop as those pink lips kept on screaming out his name hoarsely. Oh, no... no..._

_Then she was thrown in. _

_Everything stopped as his grey eyes widened, staring with this wild and raging disbelief at what he had just seen. Droplets and droplets of this salty substance spilt out, body trembled violently as realization hit him head on._

_His sister had just been thrown into the fire. That high-pitched noise he was hearing was her screaming in pain as the flames burnt her skin, flesh and bones._

_His sister had just been thrown into the fire. The ROTTEN witch that did so was still cackling with her head thrown back._

_His sister had just been thrown into the fire. She was screaming for him to help her, but he didn't. He couldn't do anything. He couldn't even save himself._

_And it hurt, it hurt a thousand time more than being stabbed repeatedly and mercilessly with a big, sharp and shiny blade._

_It was his fault. Everything was his fault... She DIED because of HIM._

_No... no... she couldn't have been dead. She couldn't have died! No, she couldn't! She COULDN'T!_

GRETEL!

* * *

Water spilt on the floor as the basin Gretel had borrowed from Arnold slipped out of her wet hands, the girl had spun and ran as fast as she could as soon as she heard her brother's voice shouting out her name from his room. The desperation, urgency and pain in his voice was something she couldn't and would never miss.

" GRETEL!" He was practically screaming her name from the top of his lungs now as her heart thumped loudly in her chest, what happened?!

The door swung opened as Gretel rushed in, trying hard to keep calm since one boy ( Ben ) panicking in the room was enough as it is. Hansel was awake, struggling weakly to move his battered body, undoubtedly trying to sit up, mouth still calling out for her. Immediately, Gretel was at his side, hands clasping on his clammy cheeks.

" Hansel?! Hansel! Hansel, I'm here! I'm here, Hansel." His eyes were wide, staring at her with dilated pupils and pure disbelief, breathing in and out harshly and shallowly. Lips quivering slightly, Hansel seemed to have been shaken up pretty badly, undeniably due to something he must have dreamt about, for those grey eyes were glinting with thin layers of water... For the first time in years, her brother looked like he was on the verge of bursting into tears.

" You're here..." His voice sounded so airy, hoarse and worn out that had the room not been so quiet, she didn't think she would have quite caught it. To think it was the very same voice that had been calling out so loudly for her just moments ago.

" Yes, I'm here." She nodded quickly, swallowed back the enlarging lump in her throat and forced her voice to speak up properly. To see him like this, so very vulnerable and in such pain hurt her deeply, Hansel had always been acting so tough and strong... Gretel knew that wasn't always the case, deep down Hansel had and would remain a soft and gentle brother with a warm heart. Even so...

" I-... I thought you... died..." His voice broke as he then bit down onto his lip, preventing himself from uttering anything else, scared that if might somehow come true if he were to say it aloud. Gretel shook her head, taking one of his hands into her grasps and kissed it tenderly, blinking her eyes repeatedly to push the tears away.

" No, no. I'm right here, see?" She pressed his rough hand against her cheek. " Whatever it is that you have just seen was all a bad dream... This is real, _I_ am real, Hansel. It's alright now. You're alright."

His calloused hand moved slowly, brushing her skin before pulling her into his gentle embrace. She could hear him breathing in her scent, burying his face into the locks of her hair, hands holding on tightly with all the strength he could manage to muster right that second. It was as if he was checking just to be sure whether she was actually unharmed or not, protecting her, caring for her, not the other way around. So similar to that time when she accidentally jumped at him from behind, attacking him, mistaking him for one of those witches. They fell down hard with him landing on his back with her full weight crushing down on his body, and yet when they came to it, he was the one who held her face in the palms of his hands, checking her, staring with pain at the bruises and cuts on her as though he wasn't at all injured. It wasn't his fault to begin with and yet, he kept on apologizing while hugging her tightly, just like this... enveloping her in his arms of protection even though she could fully defend herself now.

She returned it as her hands rubbed circles on his back in an attempt to sooth him. It seemed to have done its purpose because Gretel could feel his strained muscles relaxing, inhaling and exhaling deeper and more evenly. A sigh escaped her lips silently as relief washed over her like waves. Much as she liked for them to stay like this for a little longer, Hansel needed rest, and Gretel had to softly push him away on the chest before gently laying him back down onto the pillow.

" Rest now, Hansel. You need it." She whispered, pulling up the bed covers and smiled weakly at him, reassuring them both that everything was going to be fine. Gretel had no intention of leaving Hansel's side again, especially not after this, but as though fearful that she might somehow disappear from his sight once more, Hansel's hand came up to hold onto her arm.

" Stay."

Her smile widened somewhat then nodded. " I'm not going anywhere, Hansel." Was her reply before being unexpectedly pulled down so that she found herself lying next to her brother seconds later, her back against his board chest. With his arm over her waist, edging her closer to him, she could feel the heat of his body as well as his beating heart in that ribcage as it rose and fell with each breath.

There was no way she could get out of his grasps in this kind of position, and neither did she have the heart to. Sighing once more, Gretel rested her arm on his own then closed her eyes, enjoying this closeness while it lasted. It had been too long since she last felt this, they had always been either on separated bed or on a single bed with him on the floor.

" Don't go..." His voice was growing sluggish again as sleep was creeping in, making his eyelids feel so very heavy.

" Never."

* * *

_To be continued..._


	3. Chapter 3

**ONLY DEATH AWAITS...**

* * *

_A "Hansel and Gretel" fanfiction_

_Hansel centric_

_Genre:__ Angst, Tragedy, Hurt/ Comfort, Family_

_Warning:__ This is a DARK fanfiction that includes torture, suicidal thoughts and attempts, violence, psychological problems, abandonment, incest, etc._

_Pairing:__ HanselGretel, (a little) BenGretel_

_Disclaimer:__ I do not own the plot of "Hansel and Gretel: witch hunters" or any of the characters in this film._

_Do __**NOT**__ attempt to read this if you dislike any/ all of the above._

_You have been warned!_

_And for the rest who are staying, please enjoy._

* * *

_**Chapter 3:**_ Drowning

* * *

Her vision was blurry as she blinked slowly to wake herself up. When had she fallen asleep? Gretel couldn't actually recall that piece of information as her mind was completely enveloped in this constant, inviting and pleasant warmth. Where was it coming from?

The witch hunter stirred ever so slightly then realized that something was lying over her waist. It was an arm... then there was this breathing brushing against her hair.

" Hansel..." She whispered, everything came rushing back as she kept her body still, sighing in relief that she hadn't disturbed him. Her brother needed this sleep to gain back his strength, and the sun had just been up for a while only.

Lying there, Gretel began thinking back on all that had happened the previous days. Hansel got injured while trying to capture a boar, then the wound had gotten infected, which led to him being attacked by a witch... She killed the witch with all the anger she had got in her then asked Edward and Ben to bring Hansel over to where Arnold was... And there was this nightmare he had had before telling her to remain in the room with him. She had then stayed awake well into the night to keep a close eye on her brother until exhaustion finally got the better of her when the starlight was already starting to burn out.

That nightmare, she wondered what it had been about. Such a frightening dream that had shaken Hansel up so badly, Gretel wanted to know what it had been about. She was determined to find out when Hansel came to. She closed her eyes, the sound of his cracked voice shouting out her name still rang inside her ears as Gretel tried hard not to shudder. The sheer agony, pain and panic in it tore a chunk of her heart out, seeping into her very core and, honestly, she was scared. And that wasn't something that could happen easily. Her eyes stung just by thinking about it, flashes of those grey eyes widened and dilated - staring blindingly at her as if he had still been lost in the hellish nightmare he had just had - so lost and unfocused, they just kept on appearing in her mind.

" Gretel..." The body next to her stirred, successfully pulling Gretel out of her trance as she turned over on her right side to face her brother. Half-lidded eyes looked at her sluggishly as the familiar weight over her waist was lifted up, the very same hand came up to touch her cheek before sliding those fingers into her hair. " 'Morning..." He whispered gently with a weak smile.

She couldn't help but smile also and put her hand onto his own. Hansel had always had this strange way of making others, or was it just her, smile along with him whenever he did so. " Good morning to you, too." Gretel spoke with a gentle voice, not wanting to create too much noise right after Hansel had just woken up. " How are you feeling, brother?"

He looked at her for a moment, seemingly contemplating what he should say to her. Or was it that he was rather confused as to why she had asked that? Either way, he certainly looked better than he did the previous day.

" Uh... Like Ben's mushy porridge." Then he chuckled as Gretel laughed along softly at the sudden joke. " Gretel." He called, cutting through her laugh abruptly, suddenly sounding very much serious. " Why am I in a bed?"

" You are injured, Hansel. Of course you have to be in a bed." It was the truth, only she couldn't exactly tell him that she had also wanted him to be in an actual bed.

" Then where would you sleep?" He asked, looking around skeptically with this sharp and alarmed edge in his voice and gaze. " And where is this?"

" Arnold's place, Hansel. We brought you here yesterday, he had treated your wounds and let us stay in the spare rooms he has."

After that Hansel was quiet, his eyes softened as he studied her with those grey orbs that seemed to tint green and blue because of the angle of light that was reflected in them. Gretel had always been fascinated by her brother's eyes. They were grey most of the time, but whenever Hansel happened to stand in particular poses then looked back up at her, they would looked like they had turned either blue or green. Their parents had explained that it was due to the combining blood of their family, generation to generation, that resulted in Hansel having such peculiar eye color. It was very interesting, and it made her want to look into those eyes for as long as she could when they were younger, wondering to herself if she could actually discover anything behind them.

She never really did. A sharp twinge invaded her chest, she had never been able to read Hansel that well, concerning what he felt deep within, underneath the happy and easy-going mask. Sure she understood his intentions as to why he did this and that, but further than that, she hadn't really figured it out, hadn't really been allowed there.

" I suppose it's time for breakfast." She suggested softly, earning a slight grunt back her way as the young sister smiled somewhat. " I know that you probably aren't feeling that eager to eat yet, but that is a must, Hansel, if you want to get better." Gretel added the last part in intentionally, knowing full well that her brother would definitely do anything to get back on track. His eyes stared at her and kept quiet for a while before sighing in defeat as Gretel smiled in triumph. " Don't worry, I'll make something easy to swallow and light for your stomach. Stay here and wait for me, all right?" His sister climbed down from the bed before turning around. " I'll ask Ben to come in and help if you need anything, okay?" Not Arnold, not yet, because Gretel knew how the elder man tended to go into the forest early in the day to collect some herbs and do some of his researches.

" No." Was his immediate answer. " I'm fine by myself, Gretel." His voice was stern and so was the look in those grey eyes, determined to get his own way with this. She stared at him for a quiet moment or two, considering her choices in the matter. Hansel had always wanted to be a strong man in people's eyes, including her own, so she could definitely say that she understood why he didn't want for Ben to stay here and watch over him. Even so...

Those grey eyes kept on staring at her, and unless she had been blind, the fatigue in them was clear. And the last time she let him have his way, he ended up... like this.

" It's not like I'm going to wander off anywhere." Her brother answered as if he had been reading her mind. " Come on, Gretel. I am _fine_."

_No, you're not, Hansel._

Brown eyes kept on staring at him, various thoughts ran through her troubled mind. In the end, she sighed tiredly. " Alright, I will let you be, but don't you dare get off that bed. I'll be checking up on you frequently, you know." She warned him, meaning every word that had been spoken, her eyes bore the seriousness that she intended for them to.

Hansel chuckled softly. " I know, I know."

Gretel looked at him then hesitantly stepped out of the room, leaving the door ajar.

* * *

" Ben." She called out as she found Ben reading through his notebook in the main room of the house. Edward wasn't in sight, he must have gone out wandering in the woods, the troll liked to do that in the morning.

" Good morning, miss Gretel." He answered immediately, looking up from the pages he had been studying. " I'm afraid Mr. Arnold has gone out since dawn into the forest to do... something already." The boy said with a puzzled look on his face, she smiled.

" Yes, I'm aware of that. That's just one of the things he does every day, sort of like a routine, so there's not much to worry about. Though, Ben, I must ask of you something, if you don't mind that is." She spoke softly in a low voice while cautiously looking back up the stairs to where Hansel's room was.

" Yes, anything." He closed the book before immediately and stood up from his seat. It surprised Gretel somewhat with the sudden eagerness, but she shrugged it off.

" Uhm... Can you please go and remain near Hansel's room for me? There are a few things I need to do, and I just... I just don't think he can be by himself as of yet." When the boy nodded, she could feel a slight bit of relief. " But please, stay as quiet as you can be, Ben. And if anything happens, just call out for me. Alright?" Another nod was received.

* * *

Gretel diced the carrots up on the chopping board, she had taken the liberty of using the vegetables she found in Arnold's kitchen. She was cooking for them all, but most of the efforts went to the need and hope for Hansel to get better. This was something she had to do, for the sake of her brother, besides, she couldn't actually let Ben do the cooking all the time. Hansel was never the type to like eating any soup or porridge, he had only eaten it when she had been the one cooking it and that if she demanded him to stop being stubborn and spoilt. Well, her brother had never been spoilt, but she knew he hated spoilt brats just after witches, so being called such would make him more than willing to prove it otherwise.

The water boiled as she put all the ingredients in, stirring it slightly and watched as it slowly turned to a shimmer then started to season it carefully. They could never be too careful with the food that was going in Hansel's stomach. The thought crossed her mind as it made her worries about his diabetes emerged once more. He hadn't taken his shots since the previous day's afternoon with just more than half a cup of warm milk and honey... She needed to hurry and finish the food and other necessary items and waited for Arnold to return, he should be back soon, the sun had already been up for a bit now, he had never been out for too long.

Tasting the soup, Gretel decided that it was good enough for Hansel to swallow, considering the limited supplies they had that moment, she took out a bowl and poured some pork and carrot soup in it and placed the bowl into a wooden tray along with the cup of milk she had prepared just minutes ago.

After stepping out of the kitchen with the tray balanced perfectly on her forearm, she came to the end of the staircase and signaled for Ben to come creeping back down sneakily.

" He's fine, no movement, not that I know of." The boy whispered into her ear as she nodded swiftly.

" You did a good job, thank you, Ben. Call Edward, breakfast is ready. Remember to leave some for Arnold." The smell of her soup filled the room as Ben stared and swallowed quickly.

" I-It..." He licked his lips nervously. " It would be a pleasure to be eating your soup, miss Gretel." The witch hunter almost laughed.

" Oh, good Lord, Ben, I don't even think it's that good. Don't expect too much of it, or you'll be disappointed."

" I don't think that would be the case, miss Gretel."

Gretel smiled, patted the boy on the shoulder before climbing up the stairs gracefully with his own brown eyes trailing behind her. This had been one of the few times Gretel would cook properly though the ingredients weren't that great to begin with, and Ben treasured it much. It had taken him quite an amount of courage to actually say that to her, that it would be a pleasure for him to be tasting her cooking. Every word of it was true enough... However, Ben sourly wished that he had had that kind of courage when Hansel had taken him out for hunting the previous day. If he had, things wouldn't have turned out this awful...

But that itself was a big 'if'.

* * *

Hansel sat there, leaning heavily against the headboard with the pillow acting as a cushion behind his back. Grey eyes gazed outside the windows, lost in thoughts and looking very much worn out. Gretel closed the door behind her softly before coming over and set the tray down onto the nightstand then sat down on the edge of the bed next to her brother.

" Hey..." She whispered and placed her hand over his own, rubbing it gently with her thumb to get his attention averted over to her. He still looked too pale for comfort.

A smile presented itself on his cracked lips as those eyes softened, the distant look in them gone in a fraction of a second. " That smells nice." He answered her quietly. " I won't blame Ben for saying that he'd enjoy it." Hansel added quickly, so he did hear it, his ears had always been sharp, but it wasn't like Ben had said it in a private manner anyways.

" You're exaggerating it." She said then put the bowl gently into his hands along with the spoon.

" Quite the contrary, Gretel." He took a sip of the steaming soup. " Oh, good Lord, I think I just saw a glimpse of Heaven, my dear sister." Hansel said jokingly, though the words were truthful no matter how he had said them.

" Oh, stop it, Hansel." She frowned with a smile on her lips then watched as her brother slowly ate the food, almost captivated by those grey eyes once more. " What were you thinking about?" The question slipped out of her mouth as he looked at her with slight confusion. " I mean, when I went in just now, you were staring out the windows... what were you thinking then?"

There was a short pause before Hansel shook his head. " Nothing. I didn't think about anything, Gretel." A sheepish smile was there, trying to convince her, but Gretel wouldn't for the life of her buy that bad lie.

" Oh, I can tell that it was 'something' rather than 'nothing', Hansel."

Then they stared at each other, complete silence filled the sudden tensed atmosphere of the room. One was determined to get her answer while the other was determined for her not to. Gretel could see herself in those eyes, staring back at her, but that was it. Every time, that was just it, no matter how determined she was about trying to find out what lay behind them, she could only ever see herself in them, never beyond that... never... But she wasn't going to give up, not now...

A moment later, Hansel tore his eyes away first then looked down to his bowl of soup, starting to eat again without so much of an explanation, trying to avoid her gaze. He had always done this when he saw that she wasn't going to just let it slide. Biting down her lip, Gretel turned to look at the window, at the trees out there, the sky, the clouds, anything. _Anything_ to not think about Hansel that moment, or she wouldn't be able to control her temper.

Alright, she thought to herself, one last time.

" Last night." She began, straining her voice so that it wouldn't sound too irritated. " When you woke up, you said something about my dying... What was that about?"

And her answer was silence. He didn't say anything, the only indication that he had heard what she said was that he stopped eating to listen to her then began stuffing his mouth with the soup again right after she had voiced her question. Gretel, being the patient one of the two siblings, waited, perhaps he was just having a hard time saying it. She sat there and convinced herself that it was the case, perhaps the nightmare had been too horrid to put into words. Time stretched on, there was still no answer, the only sound in the room was Hansel's chewing, and the carrot was already really soft. It didn't even seem like he was trying to consider her question. Her nails dug into the bed sheet, balling into fists as she clenched her jaw tightly. She went out of her way to ask him _twice_, hoping, believing that she would get closer to him through his answers. And this was what she got.

Oh, it hurt. It hurt when the only family you had left was pushing you out of his heart, shutting the door right into your face without even a shred of consideration for your feelings.

" Fine." She whispered harshly before standing up abruptly from her seat. " You can sit there, finish your soup, drink your milk and stay quiet the whole day for all I care." Anger dripped in her voice as she turned her heels sharply to walk away, she didn't want to stay here in this room any longer, fearing that she might say or do something in her rage that might result in her regretting deeply it later on.

" Gretel!" He called out, spoken for the first time in what felt like hours, though only minutes had gone by. His voice sounded a little panicky and desperate as she turned to look at him, once again, those grey eyes were staring at her, wide and tinted with what seemed like fear. Like if she had walked out and shut that door, she would forever disappear from his side... All the anger that had built up instantly melted away, dear Lord, she could never really deny those eyes, _him_, could she? " I'm sorry." He whispered then averted his eyes to the ground. " I shouldn't have done that. I'm sorry."

He was starting to apologize again, and it in turn made Gretel feel guilty. She was supposed to be making him feel guilty, not the other way around! She sighed somewhat exasperatedly, feeling mostly annoyed at herself more than anything, then crossed the room again to find herself sitting down the very same spot she occupied just a minute ago.

Her eyes looked at him expectantly. " Well?"

Hansel swallowed, sighing defeatedly while blinking his eyes then opened his mouth to speak without looking directly at his sister. " In my dream, I saw that we were small again, and that we were back _there_." He said, trusting that his sister would fully understand what he meant by saying that. Of course, she did. " I was being held in that Goddamn cage, and she... she was dragging you over to the oven. You were calling me for help... but I- I couldn't. I couldn't save you. And she threw you into the oven. I can still hear the sound of your screams and her cackles."

His eyes were wide, breathing turned somewhat ragged as he relived it all in his mind. It was true, that dream was too vivid to be easily forgotten, and though a while had passed since he had seen it, everything was still very much clear. The dingy cage, the smell of burnt flesh as well as Gretel's screams, the way her teary round eyes looked at him with pure desperation shining in them, and how helpless he was even when his only sister was being murdered before his eyes.

Hansel squeezed his eyes shut, willing himself to push the images away as his grips on the warm bowl of soup tightened considerably. Though he wasn't too fond of showing his weak side to people, especially Gretel, it was getting too much for his tired mind. Suddenly, he found himself wrapped in this pleasant and calming warmth of his sister's arms as her soft hair brushed against his skin gently.

" It's alright. We're here now, we had killed her and gotten out of there. We both are still alive." She whispered into his ears. The way she softly and carefully chose the word 'we' to speak about this matter like she was implying that they had and would always be together no matter what... it really did ease his mind off the edge.

Leaning to her touch for the first time in a long while, Hansel couldn't help but smile and reach up a hand to hold onto her back. Things had always been easier and more comforting when Gretel was around.

Hansel finished his soup and Gretel was considering whether she should be relieved or worried. Relieved because for one of those few times in his life, Hansel had finally spoken the truth to her about how he felt, and she was honestly glad that he did though he looked quite shaken up. She didn't really know how it had looked like, his dream that is, so she couldn't exactly tell how horrifying that must have been for him. However, Gretel knew that if it had been her who had that dream, she would have been just as scared and afraid as he was, maybe even more. They only had each other now, so... She didn't even want to think about how it would be if one of them were to die... The thought itself was dreadful, and she couldn't, for the life of her, know how to handle it, or even how it would even be, if Hansel wasn't there anymore. He had always been there, next to her, supporting her through everything, protecting her, caring for her...

No, she wasn't not going to think about that now. It wasn't the time, nor place to be thinking about such dark prospects.

What she should be focusing more on then was trying to decipher whether she had been right to conclude that Hansel was, for some reason, burning up or not. When she held him in her arms then felt his forehead touching the crook of her neck, it was warm, warmer than it should have been, but she couldn't tell for sure. Hansel had always said that her body temperature was a little higher than his. Was it really true? Hansel had been the first to say so, not that she had had much to do with other people, men in particular, except for when they were dealing with their employers and some kids they rescued.

Pursing her lips together, Gretel decided that she should change her brother's bandage while waiting for Arnold to return, knowing full well that something bad would be inevitable should she ask Ben to come in and have a check. She went to put away the tray and came back with clean bandages she had taken the liberty of cleaning yesterday, feeling somewhat happy that she had gotten the chance to do so at all in such chaotic circumstances.

Underneath the layers of bandages was the gash from which the blood had stopped flowing, even so, it was still bleeding for a little. It bothered her much to see this as she frowned deeply and looked at the wound. From the look of things, it didn't seem like it was infected in anyway. Arnold had handled it well, and she had personally cleaned it also... Then why was the reason for this sudden, possible, fever? There was a small creak coming from below, it was Arnold, Gretel could tell as she told her brother to stay in bed and went downstairs to call him.

His hand touched Hansel's forehead, his eyebrows momentarily creased together worriedly and looked at her brother overall features.

" He definitely has a fever, it's not serious though, just a mild case. I'll go and make something to bring the temperature down." The old man left, shutting the door on his way out, waving Gretel's 'thank you' off with a small grunt.

Her eyes turned back to their main focus while trying not to think to much about anything. If Arnold had said that it was serious, then it wasn't. It was as simple as that, she understood that, but, unfortunately, she couldn't. Gretel could not shake that feeling off, that feeling when you feared that something bad would happen. She refused to believe that, Hansel was on his way to recovery and he, he...

_He isn't well, especially now. He's still too weak, too... vulnerable._

Hansel fell asleep after taking Arnold's herbal medicine with a grimace, saying how disgusting it tasted and that he would only tolerate it this one time. But Gretel knew that she only needed to put in a few words and a few meaningful looks here and there, that green and brownish substance would be down his stomach again in no time. Hansel was like that, and sometimes, she felt blessed that the wall of stubbornness he had built up over the years was nothing short of ice against fire to her, with her being the flames to melt it away of course.

* * *

The town was bustling with people of all ages, Gretel moved as fast as she could through the crowd without bumping into too many bodies. She was in the market of the town, buying and supplying them with food. It was sort of running short, and Gretel could only improvise so much. She walked to the stalls, looking around, picking up a few things to compare until she had gotten the best from them. It wasn't like she really had a choice, this was a woman's job, Ben couldn't do it, he didn't know how to differentiate good food and just normal or maybe even bad food. The only thing he knew really well was witches and how to identify them as to whether or not they were dark or not, which was pretty much similar to telling if an egg has cracks on it.

Speaking of which, Hansel was a little better than Ben, she supposed. Was it because he was older, and therefore, had more experience about these things? Maybe, but she knew that if Hansel were to be left alone in a house next to a market, he would know how to feed and cook for himself properly. Not that the scenario of him being alone would ever happen. She would never let that happen.

Never. Not when she was still alive and well.

Gretel paid for the vegetables than turned sharply on her heels and began quickly heading back to Arnold's place.

* * *

Hansel was squirming somewhat in his unconscious state, the crease between his eyebrows deepened considerably, and it troubled Gretel to no end. She had returned from her little trip to the market a while ago and had fixed them up some lunch. Chicken brew with carrots and peas. Her brown eyes drifted sadly to where her brother was lying, he would have loved it. To be frank, he had always eaten whatever she cooked with great enthusiasm and eagerness, repeatedly saying that it was good even though, sometimes, she knew it really wasn't.

The damp cloth in her hand wasn't cold anymore, after wiping his face for a few time, it was then warm... it worried her. She could literally feel him burning up at that point as she watched and saw his breaths becoming more and more shallow. Gretel had asked Arnold, the man had said that maybe it would take a while for the herbs to take effect. Was it really the case? Because she wasn't sure whether it had been hesitation in his voice that she had heard. It had been too faint, and the man was already walking away into his studies before she could even take a proper look at his expression.

Once again, she took her brother's hand into her own, rubbing and squeezing it gently. She wanted for him to know that she would be there the whole way until this entire ordeal is over.

Gretel sat there and watched him tentatively while trying with all she might to push back this awful feeling that kept on pulling at her guts, like something was bound to go awry. She refused to acknowledge it though, Hansel had always said that she always over thought things. And it then the time for to believe those words... she had to believe that everything was going to be alright. Arnold was there and he was one of the best... Hansel had to be fine, he had to...

He just had to...

Time stretched on, and it didn't even seem like his condition was improving. In fact, it was actually getting worse... Biting down her lip, Gretel stood up and went out of the room with urgent steps to call for Arnold.

" Please be alright, Hansel."

* * *

" _Freak!" _

" _Monster!" _

" _Go back to Hell!"_

_The many voices shouted as they rang in his ears. His back was throbbing as he squeezed his eyes shut and grit his teeth. Brats. They thought they were rich and so had the power to do whatever the hell they wanted. He didn't actually give a damn about them, he just minded his own business. However, one day when he was with his family in the town's fair to sell the goods his family had grown and raised the passed months and year. They were setting up their stalls when a loud group of kids that were relatively the same age as Hansel came walking by. They spotted Gretel as she was checking the vegetables and started to flirt and play with her. She plainly rejected them and swatted the hand of one of the boy away, which was obviously be the case. Even so, they were persistent like the leeches that they were. Hansel stepped in to separate his sister away from those morons. Despite the difference in build, Hansel would of course be smaller than those who had more than enough to eat every day, he had put up his bravest face to defend Gretel._

_And now, when the fair was almost over, they were back and attacked Hansel while he was looking around for something to buy for Gretel with the limited allowance and saving he had, the little girl deserved to have one or two new things every now and then. They threw stones at him, the leader of their so-called 'pack' started it. He was caught off guard and a stone hit his head, it wasn't just some pebbles. He fell down onto the ground, the pain was setting in as those rats ran over and starting kicking him, calling him names. They mocked his eyes, he knew they would mock his eyes. Ever since he was aware of his surroundings, he was aware of the fact that most people didn't like his eyes. Whenever he stood in the sunlight, his eyes would flicker to either green or blue, some villagers had seen that when he was in town, and they had tried to avoid from then on. That was why he would always prefer to stay in the shades... Not that he paid any mind to whatever it was that they were whispering to themselves, having Gretel telling him that she liked his eyes were enough... He didn't care about the rest._

_They kept throwing stones, kicking him, calling him names, laughing obnoxiously. He just let them had their fun. He could easily beat them up into bloody pulps, he was living in a farm for God's sake. But violent wasn't his nature, and he certainly didn't want to cause further troubles for his family._

_Even so, everybody had their own limit. _

" _I bet his whole family are freaks of nature also!"_

" _Eww... We touched that girl, didn't we? Would we be..?"_

_Something snapped within him as he gritted his teeth then turned around sharply, hands clenching into fists. _

" What did you just say?" _He almost growled, boiling up with anger. He was fine, they could throw what they wanted at him, but do NOT insult his family._

_In the end, he did beat them into bloody pulps as they wailed and cried for their fathers and mothers like weaklings and babies. He straddled the leader of group, grabbing the collar of his shirt until his knuckles turned white._

" You can say whatever you want about me, but dare not speak one word about my family. I maybe a freak, but I'm the only freak in the house. Leave my parents and sister Out. Of. It." _He spelled each word out carefully._ " Do you with your tiny mind understand what I am saying here, or do I need to repeat myself?" _The threat was clear, his voice dripping with venom, promised nothing but pain and fear if the one under him were to not heed his little... 'advice'. The brat nodded his head quickly, begging for mercy. Hansel stared down at him in disgust then spat blood all over the snobbish kid before standing up and wiping his mouth. _" Now you've got freak germs. Be sure to clean it... or else."

_Hansel got scolded good by his parents for fighting recklessly and received some punishments. Of course he breathed no word to his parents about the exact reason why he was fighting, he didn't want to worry either one of them anymore. When they were up in their room at night, he was sleeping in his bed, trying his best not to groan aloud whenever he shifted his body, he heard the shuffling of the bed sheets and a familiar warmth pressing against his arm. _

" Does it hurt?" _Her voice was soft, nowhere above as whisper as her small fingers brushed over the surface of his skin._

_He smiled, suddenly, it wasn't that painful anymore. _" No... Not anymore."

" Really?"_ Her round eyes were looking at him questioning, tinting with grief for the pain of her brother. He nodded gently._

" Go to sleep, sister. It's getting late." _He kissed her forehead and put his arm around her waist, holding her close to him._

_This was all the comfort he needed. This little girl here, his treasure... and he would protect her with everything he had._

* * *

" How is he, Arnold?"

" I'm not entirely sure why this is happening..." Everything sounded so fuzzy and unclear in his ears.

" Please, do something... We can't just let him..." Even so, the desperation in that familiar voice was as clear as day to him...

" But..."

" Please, Arnold... I-!"

_Gretel..._ And everything faded away once more.

* * *

_They ran out of the house, welcomed by the morning sunlight and the fresh of the forest. Gretel ran a few paces ahead of him as he turned around to look at the awful hole they had just escaped from then back at his sister. They almost died in there, both he and his sister could have died. If Gretel hadn't used that log to hit the witch... What his sister did... it was risky._

**_She could have been killed._**

/

_Hansel panted, blinking his eyes repeatedly. His heart was drumming inside his ribcage, and he was having tunnel vision. Nothing was clear as sweats rolled down his clammy skin, his hands shaking non-stop and they were covered in this red and sticky substance. It made his stomach churned just by feeling it against his skin..._

_It was Gretel's blood. They had decided to take up the job of rescuing children that were taken away by witches like them. Witch hunters, or so they had called themselves. It was their first job. Not even a real job even, they were just walking through a town and heard that there had been multiple cases of children getting captured by dark witches, and then thought that they should do all that they could to aid the villagers._

_Gretel volunteered to be the bait, acting as the innocent little girl that was wandering inside the forest and got lost. Hansel's job was to stood there, kept himself well-hidden behind the tree trunk with his gun ready in hands so that when the witch came out to take Gretel, she would be wide open for him to shoot._

_But he was one step behind, the loud screeching of laughter, the strong and chilling sweeping around surprised him. It took him a full minute before he could actually take aim and fired at the witch. The thing dropped his sister with an ear-piercing wail before receiving another round of bullets pinning down her chest. _

" It's just a scratch, Hansel." _Even so... Even if that was the case..._

**_She could have been killed._**

/

" Do something, Arnold! ANYTHING!"

" No... not yet."

" What do you mean 'not yet'? Do you _not_ see that he's suffering?!"

" I know. Just that now is not the time for me to interfere. Not yet..."

/

_A few years later, they had already found Arnold, their almost personal doctor as well as Herman, their weapon-developer/ creator. The both of them were brilliant at what they did despite being a little odd. It was snowing somewhat as Hansel caught the attention of a witch, deliberately leading her to where their trap was. The snow crunched under his boots as Hansel ran through the woods with a pissed off witch trailing after him on her broom. It was quite easy to be honest since pissing people were one of his specialties. That was until she growled and took out her wand and started firing at him with what seemed like miniature fireballs. _

_Damn. _

_He cursed under his breath then turned to shoot back with his riffle. Of course she would be able to dodge it, he allowed her to dodge it, just grazing her broom and legs a little to anger her further into diving forward blindingly as he led her right into the trap he and Gretel had set. Just avoid the tree roots and keep an eye out of steel wires, but most of them would be above his head._

" _Arghhh!" The witch roared, ugly and cracked face contorting into something that was so awful and horrendous. Pointing her wand high up into the sky, she channeled all her concentrated magic and flung it toward him. A ball of energy appeared as Hansel turned around and found only seconds to jump out of the way._

_His torso slammed down into the snow, white flakes flying everywhere in the air as the tip of her broom got caught in one of the set thin, steel wires. What seemed like arrows came pointing down at her then spread out into small and sharp claws, plunging into the dark witch's flesh, blue blood spurting out from underneath the fabric of her clothes. The sound of her screaming in pain filled the still and brisk air of the forest. Hansel was thrown away and his back had hit the hard tree quite harshly. Even so, he reached forward and grabbed his gun, which had flew out of his hands in the impact, and spun around, firing multiple shots. _

_The witch dropped down onto the ground, writhing in agony before stiffening and stopped moving altogether. A sigh of relief escaped his nostrils as his head fell down... something clinked under the pressure of his head. Oh no..._

" Hansel!" _Gretel screamed, diving forward as Hansel was completely immobilized, unable to react even though he saw what was coming, not when he was lying there, entirely exposed. _

_Blood splattered on his face as Gretel's body came crashing down in front of him, having jumped to reach to where he was in time. The claw had pierced her through flesh, crimson liquid was spilling, staining the white snow... _

" Gretel!" _The pain in his back was spreading, but it had long since turned into something rather small and trivial in Hansel's perspective as his sister was more important than anything else. Using his forearms, Hansel dragged his body on the snow, trying to move his legs and pushed himself ahead. The smell of fresh blood in the frozen air sickened him to the core as he bit down on his lip and sat up, cradling her in his arms. _" Gretel..."

" I'm okay, Hansel. But you..." _He shook his head and held her even more tightly than before... Grey eyes landed on where the claw was and saw a part of his sister's skin and flesh on it... If it had just been a tad bit lower, or had she jumped up a little higher... Hansel couldn't possible bear the thought of where that thing could have possibly pierced._

**_She could have been killed._**

/

" Hansel! Hansel... Hansel... Wake up... Please, I beg you, brother. Please... wake up...

... Wake up...

Please...

... Hansel... Hansel..."

/

_He was not intelligent, Hansel knew that much. But to be dragged away with his ankle accidentally tied to a witch broom? Dear Lord, that was beyond stupidity. Hansel mentally smacked himself. Then he just had to go and embarrassed himself even more by falling up-side-down from a tree branch._

_However those mistakes were nothing, just small grains in a sea of sand, but more importantly, the point of all of this was the fact that while he was having _fun_, enjoying himself with Mina... Gretel was out looking for him and got hit quite badly... He had wanted to beat the hell out of himself when he saw that his sister's flawless face was cut and bruised so mercilessly as he held it in his hands to study all the injuries he had indirectly inflicted upon her. Damn he was a bad brother, the worst even... If that troll, if Edward hadn't been there..._

**_She could have been killed._**

/

_He should have really stood up quicker and protected his sister. Muriel was there in their old house and she got him out of the way then threw his sister against the wall. He should have been more careful and paid attention, he could have avoided the knife hidden in the witch's hand before it hit home, which was straight into his stomach and lower abdomen. It wasn't impossible, witch was better at cursing people than to cause much damages using physical strength. He had seen it, the flash of white and cold metal flickered in the dimly lit room, but he couldn't jump back quickly enough. _

_And now his sister had been taken away. To some place unknown, and she could possible be harmed and tortured... _

_He went to save her with the help of Mina and Ben. Standing there on the cliff, Hansel gritted his teeth harshly, feeling every blow that witch had hit Gretel in the stomach. That damn, Godforsaken witch would die, painfully, for that. He vowed then moved away._

_He had gotten her out, many, too many witches were there, and Muriel got away, too smart not to have planned before-hand an escape route if things were to turn... unfavorable. Good thing he had already set up a trap waiting in the forest, and hopefully, Ben would be of use too, Hansel had given him own of his good guns. If the boy were any good like he had said, or rather bragged, then he would put the weapon into doing something helpful._

_And he did. Muriel got shot and was, therefore, forced to head to that disgusting and repulsive place, the Gingerbread house, but it was better than not having her pinned down to a certain location. For the first time in a long time, Hansel felt good about himself. He wasn't messing anything up too badly, and his plans worked without too many hitches... That was until Mina dropped down dead in his arms, letting out her final breath before fading away... Once again, Hansel felt like dirt and useless as he watched her slipped away, unable to offer any sort of help._

_They fought head on with Muriel in the house, it was fierce and fearsome. After struggling, they managed to get her strapped in those hold and rusty chains... Then he realized that he had completely forgotten about his shots, and he immediately felt weak when the watch on his wrist starting ringing loudly. Oh, good Lord, no... The witch the saw her chance and began flailing around non-stop until he was down onto the floor with a dull thud, completely losing all his strength and breath._

_From there he could only mentally cursed at himself, watching as his sister struggle to retrieve the small bag with his medication in it. He was careless and got it thrown away without even realizing it. Damn it._

_Then she was flung away, back slamming against the outer edges of the black oven. He could hear something cracked. His heart raced, pumping blood coursing throughout his whole body as his breathing quickened... Had... Had her spine been... No. No... Please, no. Don't let that be the case. No, no..._

/

" Hansel. Hansel! Hansel! Can you hear me?! Hansel!"

/

_Gretel. Gretel! Gretel!_

_He tried to call out to her, but not a word was uttered, like his voice had been taken from him. He felt trapped, trapped inside his own useless body... He had to do something, he had to... Hansel willed his body, his limbs, his fingers, anything, to move. But he couldn't... Hansel was stuck... locked in... buried in his own body..._

/

" Hansel! Hansel! Arnold!"

/

_Hansel squeezed his eyes shut, fight-or-flight mechanism running on full gear, and being the coward and weakling that he was, he chose flight. Gretel was the one with the brain that could solve their problems, not him, he was just someone who helped to solve it... but Gretel wasn't there with him, so he had no other choice..._

_Suddenly, it felt like his feet were sinking into something... warm. Snapping his eyes opened, Hansel realized that his surroundings... or more appropriately, the space around him was completely white and devoid of anything and everything... His heavy breaths escaped his lips, heart beating loudly inside his ribcage as he gathered himself before daring to look down..._

_And he regretted having done that... because when he looked down... he was standing in a pool of red blood that sharply and disgustingly contrasted the white landscape... It took him a couple minutes of struggling to get out while repeating to himself like a mantra to keep calm, to realize that he was, in fact, drowning in it. The more he moved, the deeper he slipped... Turning round and about, Hansel tried looking for away to get out of this when he spotted something behind him, a little far away for him to see clearly. He wasn't exactly 17 anymore, so of course his eyes couldn't actually retain its best condition. Squinting, Hansel saw that it was a dark figure, lying on the ground... long chocolate hair and fair skin... And he noticed something else too... that figure was the source of all this blood. _

" GRETEL!" _He all but screamed at the top of his lungs, throwing himself forward, trying with all his might to grab onto anything so that he could drag himself out of this. _

" GRETEL!"

_No... no... this wasn't happening... No!_

/

" Are you absolutely sure about this? This could-..."

" Just do it! Anything... Anything! Just save him. Save my brother!"

" Hold him down! Now! Either you hold him down properly, or I cannot do this!"

" _HANSEL!"_

/

_Dark... it was so dark... _

_Hansel felt like he was drowning, slowly and slowly down this sea of darkness and nothingness... For some reason, he could breathe here in this sea... just that his body felt so very heavy... like lead... as he gradually sank down this seemingly bottomless abyss._

_Gretel... I'm so sorry... I'm sorry. I couldn't protect you..._

/

" How is it?"

" I'm not sure."

/

" You should rest."

" No. I cannot and will not rest."

/

" Why isn't he..."

" His body is internally mending itself. You shouldn't worry too much."

/

" We have to go... Thank you for everything you have done for us, Arnold..."

" Gretel... I... I apologize for this. I-..."

" No need to. You have done everything you could. And that's good enough for me."

/

" Lay him down there. Thank you, Edward..."

" Get some sleep, we have lots to do tomorrow."

" I know. You should not feel the need to tell what to or not to do."

" Sorry."

/

" Hansel... Please... wake up."

/

_It felt like he had been drifting for forever... And almost all thoughts had left his mind. Sometimes, he would hear its and pieces of sound and voices as they filled this hollow world... He couldn't really remember what they were speaking about, just that one voice out of all other random voices, sounded so tired, worn out, broken and desperate. Repeatedly calling out for something... It pained him, his heart felt like it was being twisted like a toy. _

_It was suffocating. _

_It made him want to open his eyes and see to it what was hurting it so much. Such sorrow and despair... he wanted to put it to ease... to tell it that everything would be alright..._

_But he wasn't sure if he could do that or not. Lately, he hadn't been sure of anything. Everything was out of his grasps... and it was both scary and... relieving at the same time..._

_Even so... Even so..._

_His throat constricted tightly, it seemed like that voice was crying in his ears... And it sound too heart-wrenching to ignore..._

_Then his back hit something that he could only assume to be the bottom of this black black sea._

* * *

For the first time in a long time, he felt like he was finally able to take in a deep breath as his eyes snapped open. It was bright, too bright. Everything was swirling and unclear, blurring into a sort of funny painting before slowly steadying itself again. But the brightness didn't seem to go away even for a little though. He groaned aloud and stirred. Good Lord, it was giving him a headache.

" Hansel...?" He turned to the source of that voice and saw the dearly familiar figure standing there, wide-eyed. The corners of his lips curved up gently into a small smile, but before he could call out her name, he was shut up by the sudden trickles of pearl-like tears spilling out from her eyes as they followed each other, rolling softly down her pale cheeks. The last time he saw her cried was when they were little, their parents were still alive, she was only five or six when she fell down, trying to chase after him and badly cut her knees.

And he panicked.

* * *

_To be continued..._

* * *

_**A/N: **_Sorry to keep you guys waiting for so long, but wow... I didn't expect it to be _this_ long. Consider this double chapter, guys! LOL.

Read and Review, everybody! Reviews are appreciated because, frankly, they make my day and keep me going.

Special thanks to everyone who had followed/ favorited/ reviewed and see you guys later~


	4. Chapter 4

_**A/N:**_ Hi there everyone! I updated a little earlier than last time XD! I just want say that this story is getting harder and harder to write, so I need your support my lovely reader! A warm thank you to Janechen88, TheNaggingCube, Shadowfox, ManaLoves801, Viresse, and Dean for reviewing last chapter, your wonderful feedback gave me my motivation.

And this chapter is shorter than the last one, it has returned to its normal length, so my apology to anyone who was expecting something long.

* * *

**ONLY DEATH AWAITS...**

* * *

_A "Hansel and Gretel" fanfiction_

_Hansel centric_

_Genre:__ Angst, Tragedy, Hurt/ Comfort, Family_

_Warning:__ This is a DARK fanfiction that includes torture, suicidal thoughts and attempts, violence, psychological problems, abandonment, incest, etc._

_Pairing:__ HanselGretel, (a little) BenGretel_

_Disclaimer:__ I do not own the plot of "Hansel and Gretel: witch hunters" or any of the characters in this film._

_Do __**NOT**__ attempt to read this if you dislike any/ all of the above._

_You have been warned!_

_And for the rest who are staying, please enjoy._

* * *

_**Chapter 4:**_ Taken

* * *

The brisk air of the morning touched her skin, refreshing and tingling, when she opened the windows. Taking in a deep breath, Gretel closed her eyes to take in the soft, cooling breezes before turning around to sit down on the edge of the bed where her brother was lying, unmoving. The only indication that he was still there, alive, at all was the fact that his skin was still warm and his chest was rising and falling in a slow and shallow rhythm. It seemed almost as if he was just merely sound asleep... Arnold had called it 'coma', a word originated from Greek, Hansel was in a coma, a state of being in a very deep sleep and become unresponsive to the world around him.

She held his hand gently, scooting closer before lying down next to him, wanting badly to feel his warmth, quietly wishing that he would wake up, smile and put his arm around her. She didn't really know how many times she had thought up that scenario in her mind, praying that it would come true. However, she wasn't entirely sure when that would come true... even Arnold had seemed skeptical. Even so, she wouldn't give up, Gretel refused to back down and let her hope just slip away. This was her brother, this was Hansel they were talking about, and she knew that if it had been her, he would not abandon her either.

That day... Hansel's fever was escalating more and more and quite rapidly also. Arnold's medicine didn't work and the expressions on Hansel's face grew incredibly uncomfortable as he sometimes groaned and mumbled something incoherently. The only thing Gretel could make out from among all the jumbled words was her own name being called repeatedly, desperately and painfully. He was dreaming again, dreaming about her, seeing nightmares involving her.

And it made Gretel feel like her heart was being ripped out of her chest. She watched over him until Arnold came in and asked if she could wake Hansel up. Of course she tried, she did everything she could while trying very hard not to hurt him further, but he didn't even stir. Gretel had suppressed her panic and fear with all her will and remained strong... for the both of them. There had been enough problems to deal with already, she would never allow herself to be a burden when she had a choice on the matter. She knew that Hansel wouldn't have wanted for this to happen either, but he didn't have a choice...

Arnold had frowned, seemingly very troubled by this as the man turned and walked out of the room with hurried steps, deep in thoughts, and didn't return until much, much later on. It was a while after the doctor had gone out that Hansel's hands started twitching visibly, and he was murmuring a lot more. Beads of sweat rolled down his face, Hansel was obviously growing restless as the crease between his eyebrows deepened considerably. Even so, her brother still refused to open his eyes. And the fear of not knowing was eating away at Gretel from the inside out, there was nothing she was sure of at that point. Even Arnold, the man she had trusted and left the life of her brother in his hands, hadn't seemed too sure either. All that she could possibly do then was to remain by his side and call out his name in an attempt to drag him out of this state of unconsciousness. Everything she tried, in the end, was completely in vain. She would keep on trying though because there was no other way to do it aside from holding his hand tightly and begging him to return to her.

Sometimes, his eyes would open up for a brief moment, Gretel immediately grabbed the chance to try and drag him back to reality, practically shouting out his name at the top of her lungs. But those grey eyes were so dull and glazed over, so unfocused as they tried to find the source of her voice and failed miserably in the process before sliding shut once more. Gretel wanted to cry, she wanted to cry so much whenever that happened because she was right there, right there next to him, but Hansel couldn't see it. He was aware and yet so lost and numb to his surroundings at the same time.

_Seeing but not seeing._

Her eyes stung as she tried and tried to no avail several times after that. She needed to stay calm and keep it together for as long as she could, knowing that panicking wouldn't do her any good. Gretel kept on reminding that to herself over and over again because even though she knew so, it didn't mean she could do so...

Breathing in and out as evenly as possible, she turned to find Arnold returning to the room again to check up on Hansel's condition. She asked him to do something, but he kept silent for a moment or so before saying that then wasn't the time for him to interfere. The brunette had done all she could to stop herself from grabbing him on the collars and demand for an explanation. Of course, she managed to keep herself from flying off the handle as the sister cleared her throat and asked again with all the control she had left in her. Thinking back, Gretel was rather quite impressed that she could've done that without bursting out at the man.

" _He still has a chance to walk away from this without needing the assistance of my medicines, Gretel. A couple more hours to see where this will go then _you_ can decide whether it is wise to take the risk or not."_ Was what he said, which puzzled her much at the time since she couldn't really think straight with this mess as well as the exhaustion that was building up larger and larger. Just that whatever it was that the doctor had thought up while he was away could potentially either harm or help Hansel. Figuring that out didn't really help the situation at hand, not even for the slightest bit.

" _This is happening because his diabetes is acting up. His body is weak after the attack, therefore, cannot take his regular doses and has to switch to milk and honey. But now... _because_ of switching to milk and honey, something that I can only assume his body cannot absorb properly, that has led us to this..."_ Arnold sighed frustratingly and tiredly, the man was clearly very worried about where this was going, too. _" What I'm planning on giving him, should things turn out not as we hope, is something very dangerous. It's a concoction of herbal medicines along with a concentrated dose of his own diabetic shot. I have made it so that the shots won't overpower the herbal medicine."_ He then looked at her, eyes dead serious, not that she was taking any of this lightly. _" It could make or break him. And even if somehow he, miraculously, survive this, nothing will ever be the same again. The risk is high, so choose, Gretel because I'm not the one who he'll be depending on in order to live. Be wise about this. This is your life we're talking about as well, not just his."_

But it had never been only about her.

They were ' Hansel _and_ Gretel: the witch hunters'. All her life, she had never been alone, he had never left her side and neither did she.

_Herbal medicines and concentrated dose of his own diabetic shot; _

_Make or break; _

_Miraculously survive; _

_Never be the same again; _

_Depending on in order to live;_

_Dangerous..._

The words swirled and oozed in her ears, echoing in a strange and eerie way that chilled her to the bone. And Gretel suddenly felt the urge to throw up as her eyes drifted between the doctor and her delirious brother.

Some times later, well into the night, Hansel's body started convulsing... It was clearly collapsing internally... and Gretel knew exactly what had to be done that moment.

" _Do it Arnold!"_ She remembered shouting that as she and Ben tried their best to hold Hansel down as she quickly slipped a cloth between his teeth, preventing him from biting his own tongue and dying in the process. No. He wasn't going to die... Hansel was certainly not going to die, not under her watch.

" _Just do it! Anything... Anything! Just save him. Save my brother!"_

Gretel squeezed her eyes shut, it was giving her a headache just by reliving the hectic night... everything was so messy up until dawn. The drug had taken effect immediately, it ceased Hansel's body from moving, and Gretel was momentarily relieved by this. However, Arnold had thought otherwise as he instructed Ben to run down stairs and fetch him the rope. They worked quickly to tie Hansel down to the bed, strapping it over his body tightly before it got the chance to move again.

Another attack seized her brother's body, but the rope had kept him pretty much under control as the concoction coursed through his body. All of his muscles were tensed as the blue veins were visible underneath his clammy skin, sweating profusely as he groaned... his eyes were opened, but she could see was the white and bloodshot part of them, not those beautiful pupils that had always looked at her with all their adoration. She had stood there and witnessed everything, heart leaping loudly in her chest and from behind, she could feel Arnold's hand on her shoulder, squeezing it tightly as if telling her to prepare herself for the worst.

The brunette swallowed thickly and let out a shaky breath, clenching her hands into fists. No, nothing was going to take Hansel away from her, not if she could help it. Slowly, she approached him and Arnold had let her without hesitation, knowing in his mind that this could possibly be their last moments together, whether Hansel was conscious and aware of it or not. Gretel bent down next to the bed, gently placing her hands on his cheeks.

" _Hey..." _She called out softly and shakily. _" It's me, Gretel. Can you hear me, Hansel?"_ Her voice was nowhere above a whisper, as faint as a morning breeze, she didn't want anyone else to hear this exchange between her and her brother, this was their moment of privacy. Leaning forward, her lips touched his skin as she planted a kiss on his forehead, not for the least bit feeling disgusted by the layer of sweat covering it. _" Fight, brother. Fight for you and for me, also... Live because... I need you, Hansel."_

It wasn't until morning that Hansel's condition was stabilized completely, and everyone was exhausted, especially Gretel. However, she refused to rest for she wanted to be there when he would eventually wake up. One, two, three days then a week later, but there was no sign indicating that he was going to open his eyes any time soon. After another week, Arnold deemed it as 'coma', as if they could not do anything further for him, he just needed to wake up on his own.

A month passed by, Gretel had already begun teaching Ben how to use their most basic and commonly used weapons, for more protection just in case... Hansel would always deserve the best of what they could offer. The boy was holding up nicely through the training and was used to handling many of the guns they had, but of course, he had had his fair share of experience with guns before. In short, Gretel wasn't at all that surprised because Hansel had been one of the quickest learner she had ever seen, not that she was praising him because he was her brother, absolutely not. Just that for a child that was merely twelve or thirteen who hadn't harmed a single living soul deliberately to pick up a gun and get accustomed to using it in just a few days or so had and would always been impressive.

They ran short on money a few weeks later, Arnold offered them to stay, but without money to supply themselves with food... Gretel didn't think they had a choice on the matter. And of course Hansel was coming along also, conscious or not, they only had to put him on a newly built cart and took turn pushing it... it wasn't the best way, but she would not allow Hansel to be out of her sight. Not to mention the fact that, no, she couldn't bother Arnold with taking care of her own brother.

This was the fourth town, counting from the day they left the doctor's place. The job was simple and familiar, rescuing children from a dark witch's grasps. Gretel sighed and slid her fingers through Hansel's hair, which had been steadily growing out of its normally short length little by little. She could still remember clearly their first job as witch hunters, or children rescuers. They were still very munch inexperienced at everything, so when Hansel saw Gretel being lifted up into the air by the witch, he panicked. She could still see that look in those grey orbs of his, scared and lost. However, he managed to keep it together and shot the witch multiple times in the chest. He had always been good with guns and anything related to aiming. Hansel ran to where the witch had thrown her, cradling her in his arms, looking as if he was about to cry at any given moment.

Hansel had always been sweet, though his method of showing it changed throughout the years as they gradually grew up. Sleeping on the ground, rolling under the bed every now and then, Gretel couldn't help but smile sadly at the fond memories as she closed her eyes.

" Please wake up, Hansel..." She whispered softly before planting a gentle kiss on his temple. " I miss you." Every word was from the bottom of her heart as she prayed that, somehow, her brother even in his unconscious state could hear it.

Gretel had never felt so useless because, before, when he was injured, she could still help him treat the wounds... now, he was right there, clearly unwell and yet, there was nothing she could do but to give him his regular shots that Arnold had instructed her to. One for his diabetes and one for maintaining his body's nutrients on an acceptable level. The man had made enough doses for the group to travel for three months before having to return to his place for more, and Gretel couldn't ask for more. She felt grateful to have a man such as Arnold to look out for them, and they had owed him a lot, too much... She'd have to return the favor later on though she wasn't too sure if anything she could do would ever be enough.

A knock sounded on the wooden door, pulling her back to reality. " Gretel, time to go meet the Mayor." It was Ben, she sighed.

" I'll be out soon." She replied before turning her attention back to Hansel. Sadness washed over her once more as she felt like a stone was weighing down on her heart, she didn't want to leave him, but she couldn't just let Ben do all the work on his own. They still had a plan to discuss.

The witch hunter stood up, the despair of having to leave her brother all alone in a room like this dampened her mood because she knew how much Hansel hated being left behind, but it couldn't be helped. " I promise I'll be back soon, alright?" She caressed his cheek gently then tugged the blanket back up to keep him warm and turned on her heels to head out of the room.

" _Uhg..."_

Gretel stopped dead on her track. That was undoubtedly... a groan. And there were only two people occupying this room that moment, her and... Spinning around, she could literally hear her heart drumming loudly in her chest, beat by beat as her breath quickened and turned shallow. Eyes frantically looking at her brother... Was she hearing things? Perhaps her mind was playing tricks on her for she had not slept much last night?

She squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her fists tightly, breathing in and out slowly to calm the raging storm within her. She must have been wrong... her eyes stung greatly as she told herself repeatedly not to get too worked up over this, not to get her hopes up too high... Gretel drew in a shaky breath and opened her eyes once more, staring at the still form of Hansel... only... it wasn't still anymore. Him... Hansel was stirring... His chest expanded considerably, inhaling deeply, deeper than he had ever done since he went into a coma. Those eyelids fluttered softly like flapping wings of butterfly then appeared behind them were the very grey orbs she had been longing for.

Oh, Lord...

" Hansel?" Her breath hitched as she choked on her own words, feeling this wetness trickling down her cheeks. Gretel sobbed, she wasn't dreaming, was she? Was she? She hoped not, desperately praying that she hadn't been dreaming or hallucinating because it just felt so real... and to wake up from it all and find that nothing had actually happened, that Hansel hadn't just stirred, that he hadn't just opened his eyes... It would break her.

Those eyes turned to look at her as they slowly widened.

" G-Gre-tl?" Hansel managed to croak out with difficulty as if he was channeling all his energy just to perform the simple task of speaking. Maybe he really was, judging from how tired, worn out and confused he looked, his voice was dry and hoarse from the lack of use. " Gre-tel..." He tried again, sounding so much smoother this time. " W-hy are you-..."

Before he could actually finish what he was struggling to say, she had quickly gone to his side and embraced him tightly in her arms, burying her face into the crook of his neck, breathing in his scent, feeling his heart beating so much stronger than ever before, letting the tears run freely down from her eyes. This was real, it had to be real because the warmth that was seeping through her skin and the gentle squeeze on her back told her that it could not possibly just be an imagination.

" Welcome back." She whispered, voice cracking ever so gently. " My idiot of a brother."

He chuckled somewhat, the vibration of it rumbled in his chest and quickly reached her skin. " You know it."

* * *

Hansel felt tired and worn out, his muscles were aching like he had been beaten up really badly, or getting continuously slammed into walls of rock, whichever hurt more. However, that wasn't his main concern at the moment, that much he could make out with how groggy his mind was, for reasons he couldn't really fathom. What was more important was the fact that Gretel cried, she _cried_ and _sobbed_, it wasn't something one could see every day. What was wrong? He wondered to himself as he lifted up his hands to rest on her back, tightened his holds as far as he could that moment. Whatever the reason, he needed to calm her down first.

Leaning against Gretel like this suddenly made him realize something, he missed her a lot. His body was literally sucking in all the warmth it could take as he shuddered for a moment, it finally dawned on him how cold and stiff he felt. Why though? He couldn't understand why... he had been sleeping for... for...

" Gretel?" He called, trying to make his voice work without too many hitches, why was it so hard? " How-..." Hansel struggled to say what was on his mind, the words were there, right there, since when had it become so hard to just speak what was already there? He swallowed thickly, all of a sudden, feeling this fear bubbling from the pit of his stomach. " How long have... have I... been... asleep?"

There was no reply, only this deafening silence as his sister slowly let go of him, depriving him of his source of warmth and comfort... It scared him... but he couldn't for the life of him find the energy that he normally possessed to hold her back, watching as she slowly slipped away, out of his fingers.

Gretel wiped away the wetness of her eyes before focusing her attention on him again, a sad look clouding those brown orbs. Her lips weren't so pink and soft-looking anymore, they were pale and somewhat cracked as they moved to form the words he was about to hear. " More than a month."

He stared at her for a moment, no, he didn't catch that right, he thought she had just said- " More than a _month_, Hansel." She repeated as if sensing his confusion. His eyebrows furrowed, that must have been a mistake... no one... how could anyone sleep that long?

" You were in, what Arnold called, a coma, brother. You were in a very deep sleep and became unaware and unresponsive to the world around you." She replied his question, and it was starting to get somewhat creepy how she could almost seem like reading his mind like that.

Hansel stayed quiet, willing his shrouded mind to accept the information, it did though, only taking a long time to process it all. " Is... Is it the reason why... why I'm feel-ing so t-tired?"

For a second there she was quiet again before answering quietly. " Partly."

He didn't asked what she had meant by that because he didn't catch that, because his foggy mind had let it slip, because somehow... it felt like drowning again. Gretel saw that distant look that was growing in those eyes as they started to become dull, she fought back the urge to shiver.

" Hansel..." She began, but was cut off short when the door creaked open.

" Gretel, we're late, what are you-..." Ben stepped in and stopped mid-track when he saw what was happening in the room. His brown eyes landed on Hansel, who then was slowly looking up at him. He had woken up, Ben thought to himself, eyeing the brother rather cautiously before turning to Gretel. " We have to go." He spoke with a low tone that almost sounded like he was ordering her to listen and do what he said.

" I can't. You go alone, I have to stay here-..." She protested.

" Mayor's order, remember? He told _us_ to be there. I can't go alone, we have a plan to discuss, too, need I remind you."

Hansel stared at the boy, who then was looking much stronger and more well-built than before, Gretel must have trained him well, not that she had ever done anything half-way. Either way, he didn't like the tone Ben was using, nor the way he was speaking to Gretel. His blood boiled inside of him as he gripped the bed sheet tightly, trying to control himself. Who did that boy think he was, talking as if he was better than anyone else in this room. Better than Hansel, perhaps yes, but Gretel? Don't even think about it. Ben may be good at aiming and shooting, but Gretel was too, and when it came to strategies, speed and agility, his sister could beat him any time. And, somehow, Hansel's mind became very clear for the first time since he had woken up.

" She does not need you to remind her what she has to do." He spoke up, using all the strength he had left in him to make it sound like a warning as much as possible. They both turned to look at him with surprise shining in their eyes, though Ben's instantly turned cold after the initial shock. " And why are you holding my gun?"

" I-..."

" Put it back into the weapon chest and find yourself another one." And Ben gave Hansel a glare of defiance. " Or I swear the moment I get off this bed, I will use that very same gun to blast a hole in your stinky mouth and the hand you're holding it." His voice was low, cold and, surprisingly, calm. A smirk found its way onto his lips when he detect a sprinkle of fear crossed that boy's eyes even if it was just for a split of a second. Ben's eyes narrowed, anger coursing through his veins as he stormed out of the room, much like a child that he was. He had it coming, he should have known better than to have offended Gretel like that when Hansel was sitting right there, and the brat even had the nerve to take Hansel's gun and use it like it was his. Dear Lord, what had that boy become?

" Hansel, I-..." Gretel turned to him, clearly trying to explain what had just happened.

" Just go after him and make sure that he doesn't damage my gun." He smiled. " We'll talk later when you get back." His sister seemed like she was at a loss of what to do, but he waved his hand dismissively. " Really, go, Gretel. I don't want him getting all angry and taking it out on my gun."

After a second or two, she nodded then leaned forward to kiss his forehead gently. " I'll be back soon. Stay in bed, alright?"

" I know, I know."

She finally left the room after another minute of lingering as the door was closed behind her. The cold was settling down once more, creeping into every inch of his being. The smile died on his lips, Hansel let out a heavy sigh as he sat still there for a while, leaning heavily against the pillow behind his back with his eyes shut. He didn't really want Gretel to leave, but she needed to, and he couldn't just stop her because of his own selfishness.

A soft breeze blew from the open windows just next to his bed as Hansel listened to all the activities down there in the street. The sound of people bustling about, the noise of cattle and other animals and laughter of small children... everything was so near and yet so far away. His head was swimming, but he could still clearly make out a few certain sentences that Hansel suspected were made by the same children who had been laughing just then.

" It's Hansel and Gretel, the witch hunters!"

" They are going to save our friends!"

And Hansel knew... not only had his gun been taken from him, but his place in all of this had been taken away as well. His eyebrows creased in pain as he clenched his jaw tightly, trying to override the pain.

But it still hurt so badly...

* * *

_To be continued..._


	5. Chapter 5

_**A/N:**_Hello there. This is a late update, and I've got no other excuses but for having to take care of my finals and another writer block. I apologize for that, and thank you **Wolfa Moon, janechen88, Dean, Hansel lover101, **and a** guest** for reviewing last chapter as well as anyone who had **favorited/ followed **this story of mine, I appreciated it a lot, your feedback had kept me going

* * *

**ONLY DEATH AWAITS...**

* * *

_A "Hansel and Gretel" fanfiction_

_Hansel centric_

_Genre:__ Angst, Tragedy, Hurt/ Comfort, Family_

_Warning:__ This is a DARK fanfiction that includes torture, suicidal thoughts and attempts, violence, psychological problems, abandonment, incest, etc._

_Pairing:__ HanselGretel, (a little) BenGretel_

_Disclaimer:__ I do not own the plot of "Hansel and Gretel: witch hunters" or any of the characters in this film._

_Do __**NOT**__ attempt to read this if you dislike any/ all of the above._

_You have been warned!_

_And for the rest who are staying, please enjoy._

* * *

_**Chapter 5:**_ Shadow

* * *

"How dare you?" Gretel said through gritted teeth, seething with anger as her eyes glared daggers at Ben, whose lips then were pressed into a thin line. " I have specifically _told_ you to _never_ touch Hansel's gun."

"I was just... joking with you." He tried, and it was a damn poor excuse.

"Joke not accepted." She hissed, voice low and alarmingly strained like she was about to snap at any time. And, yes, she was. "Do you have _any_ idea what you have done just now?"

"How am I supposed to know that he was just going to wake up all rise-and-shine now, am I?!"

"That is completely besides the point, Ben! You're _not supposed to touch Hansel's gun!_" The brunette spelled out each words, eyes fixed upon him accusingly with all the anger and frustration boiling underneath her skin. He kept quiet for a while before setting the weapon in his hand down back to where it belonged and grabbed another one for himself, the gun with a long and slender barrel, then headed towards the door.

Gretel turned to pick up her own double crossbow then went over to Edward, the troll looked somewhat uncomfortable, it was probably because of what happened just now.

"Edward?" She called and placed a hand on his shoulder, his tensed muscles relaxed considerably when he hear the softness had returned to her voice. "Can you watch over Hansel for me while I'm gone?" He nodded with a soft grunt, not that he didn't like her asking him to do it, that was just the way he expressed himself. Edward didn't talk that much unless it was something really important and necessary. Him grunting didn't equal to him disagreeing.

"Thank you." Gretel whispered with a soft yet sad smile, her voice was slightly worn around the edges. "I'll be back soon." With that, she left as the door was shut behind her.

* * *

_Heavy._

_That was one of the few things Hansel could actually make out. His body, mind and soul felt incredibly heavy... like something was weighing him down. It was getting hard to breathe... Amidst this thick and cold fog that was wrapping itself around him, he could hear somebody whispering something. That was, by no means, Gretel's voice. And it made him feel jumpy inside. He was curious about what that voice was saying, yet nervous of figuring out the words that it was speaking._

_His ears were beginning to ring annoyingly as the crease between his eyebrows deepened. The continual screeching sound that went through your ears when you couldn't hear anything was invading all his senses... slowly deafening him. _

_Breathe._

_He told himself, willing himself to listen to that one single word of wisdom and clarity that was breaking through all of this hectic haze. _

_Breathe..._

_But he couldn't. He was listening to it, but he couldn't. His lungs were burning in his ribcage and every fiber of his muscles were screaming at him for straining himself too much just to breathe. Even so, he couldn't feel a tiny bit of air entering his nostrils or mouth... Sweats beaded down his forehead, he couldn't for the life of him decipher whether he was hot or cold anymore, and those whispers seeped into his ringing ears. And he thought that there was nothing but complete silence._

_Just breathe!_

_He opened his mouth wide, painstakingly gasping yet, like before, nothing was get through to his body. His hands went up to wrapped themselves around his throat, dull nails digging into his skin desperately for something, anything! The stinging feeling around his eyes built up, his vision was blurring, not that there was much to look at in the first place, and he was starting to get extremely light-headed._

You can't even save yourself.

_Hansel squinted his eyes to look around, startled that for a second there for he thought he heard someone saying something to him._

You did.

_His throat tightened, if that was even possible. That was a voice, a clear voice speaking clear words. Clearer than any other sound he had ever heard, strangely clear that it felt almost like it was... it was inside his head. Hansel opened his mouth to try and say something back, but only a strangled sound came out._

You're such a burden, you know that?

_Hansel's eyes widened as a jolt of pain shot through his skull._

* * *

They hadn't spoken a word ever since the argument, save for when the had to discuss their plan of attack with the town mayor, and Gretel intended to keep it that way. She didn't want to even be near him, not when this boiling anger still resided within her like a dead nail. What Ben did wasn't something that was so easily forgiven.

"Here you go." Gretel placed a small bundle of candy into the big hands of the troll, they had found out for a while now that Edward liked to have a little sweet every now and then. "Thank you." She whispered with a gentle smile and was answered with his usual grunt.

Opening the door leading to Hansel's room, she found him already fast asleep. A twinge touched her heart as she closed the door behind her then rushed to his bed side. He was whimpering, stirring restlessly in his sleep, it was a worrying sight, but at least it was miles and miles better than him being unresponsive.

She sat down and held his hand in hers, like she had always done, squeezing it tightly. "Hansel? Hansel." The brunette called, fear sparked in her voice at the thought of those vicious nightmares were once again plaguing his mind. Even when he had been under, no matter how subtle it was, she could never miss the discomfort in his expressions, undoubtedly seeing another dark memory arising. Hansel feared nothing, but when it came to her, he feared that anything and everything could happen to her, Gretel knew that for a fact. She had seen the worried glint in those beautifully intense yet sad eyes of her brother every time he turned his attention to her when they were mentioning even the tinniest of thing that would endanger her well-being. And she knew that all those times when she had come close to death and he wasn't around or couldn't protect her... all of that still haunted him.

Sometimes... she silently wished that sometimes Hansel should just be afraid of dark witches, the horrible and awful monsters that they killed during their jobs, instead of concentrating on planning and working up something that wouldn't mean harming her in the process. But there was nothing that he could do to fully and completely fend her off from the scary and pain-filled world. Sometimes, she really hoped that he would listen to her and understand that enveloping her in his arms wouldn't get them anywhere.

Sometimes... he needed to think for himself first. He never did listen... always too stubborn and proud to allow himself be swayed by her persuasion.

" Idiot." She whispered and kissed his knuckles softly with a sigh, fighting back the prickling tears at the corners of her eyes. Ever since their parents died, nothing had ever been the same again. That much was obvious, even so... Gretel still longed for those days where they had finished all their daily chores and would start racing through the woods, stretching out their arms to feel the cool rush of air passing by their skin. Laughing and playing and not caring about anything in the world except for what was right there and then. Those were the warmest and brightest memories of her life where the golden sunlight along with that care-free and innocent grin Hansel had had on his lips dominated over absolutely everything.

A strangled sound suddenly escaped his throat as the frown between her brother's eyes deepened, Gretel was immediately on high alert, leaning forward and closing the gap between them.

"Hansel?" She tried calling her again, specks of what was the beginning of panic sprinkled over her voice. Her other free hand came up to rest on his chest, feeling for the reassuring steady heart beat underneath the layers of clothes, skin, flesh and bones. It was still there though thumping ever so louder than before. "Hansel-..."

Grey eyes snapped open, surprising her for a second there as his dilated pupils frantically looked around, seeming very much shaken up. Gretel sighed, feeling a fraction of her worries faded away. He finally focused on her again, panting heavily before swallowing thickly, beads of sweat rolling down his forehead.

"Another bad dream?" She asked, sounding more like a statement than a question, voice as soft as a breeze. As his sister, Gretel knew full well that her brother liked listening to her whispers after having just woken up from a nightmare. Of course she didn't bother asking if he was alright, it wouldn't have been appropriate because the look he wore had said it all.

He gasped for a while longer, licking dried and chapped lips then cleared his throat before speaking. "I think so." Hansel managed to say, his voice remained hoarse and slightly cracked.

Brown eyes studied him for a minute or so before reaching out, planning on placing a hand on his cheek to soothe the edges of fright and distress from him, but he pulled away. "Don't." Came his quiet whisper, he was well aware of the fact that his skin was very clammy due to the dream just now though his mind couldn't recall much of it. Of course he didn't want to get his sister's hand dirty.

However, Hansel wasn't the only child in the family that had inherited the stubborn streak as he could feel Gretel's warm and calloused palm pressed against his skin. Turning his head and ready to protest, he saw the set and determined look in her eyes that mirrored their mother's own and everything just got blown away along with the winds. She shook her head, telling him in a sort of telepathy that they had between them most others didn't have that she would have her way and there was no stopping her from getting it. He sighed, he could never really deny her of anything when she was like this.

Slowly, he could feel peace was once again returning to his stormy heart, her warm and affectionate touch had always had that magical effect on him. Gretel had always been warmer than most, literally and figuratively, and that was all he needed to survive this cold, harsh and unforgiving world.

"I'm fine now." He whispered, still finding it strange to be uttering these words, it had been a long time since he last actually vocalized something other than strained groans and small, almost unnoticeable whimpers.

Her eyes never left him as her thumb rubbed circles on his cheekbone, contemplating whether that was really the case or not. Seeing the drained colors and comfort seeping back to his skin, she decided that it was time to let go, knowing that Hansel's pride was too large to let his own sister hold him even just for a while. Her hand left his cheek though the want and need for it to linger there even just for a little bit longer flared up in both siblings, either spoke up about it.

"How about some chicken broth?" Gretel suggested after a while of silence involving Hansel looking out the window and her looking at him. The dazed and slightly unfocused look hadn't left his still dull eyes as he shifted his attention back on her. He blinked several times, either trying to find the stomach in him to hold down the simple dish or just plainly letting his brain register what exactly she had just said.

"Yeah... sure." He finally replied a few minutes later, Gretel nodded then came dashing out of the room over to the kitchen to prepare the ingredients as she started boiling some water then carefully took out a small cup then set it aside before putting the chickens she had bought from the market into the pot. When everything was finished, the brunette returned to the cup and put in some salt, blending it gently with a spoon before returning to the usual spot next to her brother once more. "No need to rush, Gretel. You'll fall if you aren't careful." Hansel spoke softly, the tone of protectiveness was returning to his voice.

"I'm fine, Hansel. I think I can handle myself." She smiled lovingly at him, listening to his voice, watching him make even the smallest of movements stirred up this gentle fluttery feeling in her heart that had not been present since the moment his eyelids closed without a promise of ever re-opening again. And now, now that he had woken up, this almost suffocating happiness was overwhelming, it took a lot to just stop her hands from trembling in sheer bliss.

Gretel helped her brother to sit up, padding a few extra pillows behind back for support and comfort. After he had settled into place, for the first time in a long time, she got an overall look of him and realized that... ever since his state of health took the wrong turn, his already lean body just seemed really frail, thin, undernourished, weak... anything but strong, lively and healthy. A sharp twinge of pain seized her heart, but she knew it was inevitable. The last time Hansel actually had some solid food in him was more than a month ago, so this was bound to happen. She wasn't surprised, she had prepared herself mentally for this, or at least _tried_ to... Even so... it still... ached so very dully.

"Where exactly are we?" He rasped somewhat, clearing his throat to no avail.

"Southeast of Ulm, I hired a small cottage on the outskirt of town. Here." She answered simply then handed him the cup. "Just to refresh your mouth." Hansel nodded mutely and took hold of it, steadying himself, trying to utilize the muscles he knew he had. Once he had taken a sip of the salty blend, she bent down to pick up a basin from the floor so he could spit the water back out again afterward.

"Thanks." He murmured and handed her back the cup, tremors visibly running through his fingers and hand, looking rather appalled at himself. Then, suddenly, he began to realize what he had missed before. "You said 'partly'." His voice was barely above a whisper, but she heard him all right as he looked up at her questioningly. "What does that mean?"

Pursing her lips together, Gretel placed the cup onto the nightstand and set the basin back down to the ground next to her feet then straightened herself once more. She knew he would be asking about that sooner or later, and, therefore, had prepared an answer for him, an explanation. However, through experience alone, Gretel knew that no matter how much she had prepared herself for something, as long as it had something to do with Hansel, nothing really went according to the scenario she had thought up. Her brother was the combination of simplicity and complexity, which was awfully wonderful. It had never been easy to predict his reactions toward something.

He stayed quiet as she carefully told him about the concoction Arnold had made, how it both saved but, possibly, damned his life. It was a strong and concentrated dose, and as it coursed through the body, it helped lessen the firm grip the symptoms of Hansel's illness had had on him... with a price. The well-developed muscles were now worn down by the drug's instant effects, softened them out sort to speak, and with more than a month of immobility... Hansel was as weak as the child he had been some fifteen years ago. The person he had tried with all his might to escape from. Now... it was back to square one, literally.

She watched as realization dawn upon him, the information sinking down harder and harder like an invisible pair of sharp, metal teeth that dug into his soul, tearing him apart from the inside out. Of course, Hansel didn't really show how much this was bothering him, the only indication that it did was that the frown and tired look he had considerably deepened. Gretel subconsciously tightened her fists, the pain at the pit of her stomach was coming back with a spiteful vengeance as she could feel the bile rising in her throat. She didn't want to be the one to explain this to him, to tell him that he was almost utterly powerless then for she was the reason he wanted to be strong in the first place.

Life was cruel, she knew, but why did it have to be especially this hideous to her brother as if it was mocking him, toying with his own existence? She squeezed her eyes shut, willing herself to not think about that, not for the moment at least. The future and present was already as bleak as it could be.

Gretel leaned forward, closing the gap between her and her brother, studying him with concern painting her face and eyes filled with despair. He turned away, shied away from her as he tended to recoil back into his shell whenever he didn't want to show his weaknesses. It pained her, he could tell, as she still determinedly reached out and pulled him into a tight, yet gentle and warm embrace, her fingers clinging to his back as if clinging on for dear life. Her scent filled his senses, the aroma of newly bloomed spring flowers, of wind and sunshine and everything that had been associated with peace and quiet by him ever since they had been little. It hadn't changed, not for one single bit. The softness of her lips pressed against his cheek, lightly and fleeting at first, but slowly retained more strength as she tenderly kissed him on the temple, cheekbone, nose, jaw and chin. She had always done that to soothe away his troubles... but they both knew it wouldn't do the trick this time... Even so, she was doing everything she knew to calm his hectic mind, providing him with as much comfort as she could and was allowed to, while he was gladly accepting whatever she had to offer to ease away the darkness that was invading his heart because she was and would certainly remain as his source of light even on the cloudiest of days.

Like plant being drawn to the radiant sun... except for that the plant was now unable to crawl properly anymore.

"I'm here, Hansel. Always." She whispered gently into his ear as he finally let himself lean into her touches and rested his forehead in the crook of her neck, too drained to resist the comfort he knew he desperately needed.

* * *

"As soon as we finish everything here, we're going back to Arnold." Gretel informed Ben of her decisions rather curtly, the foul mood she had had with him hadn't at all dissipated, not that much anyway, because she was busy hiding the new, raw and swelling tear in her heart to be focusing on anything else. She could have easily forgiven him for other mistakes, but not ones what were related to her brother. Even if she did let it slide, it didn't equal her forgiving, she would remember this for as long as she lived and would, one way or another, get Ben back for this... not too much though, just enough so that it would annoy him days and days on end. And Lord, did she love the idea to do just that.

Ben stared at Gretel, she could feel his eyes on her, telling her to continue, but instead she stayed quiet and pretended like she didn't know what was happening. If he wanted to know something, he would have to ask for it.

And he finally caught on with this. "Why?" It sounded almost as if he was growling inside his throat as she turned to look at him with one raised eyebrow. His jaw was set, but he knew why she was acting like this and decided to just swallow it down and tried again. "Why are we going back to Arnold?"

"We need to let him take a look at Hansel. He told me to should Hansel wake up." A tint of sadness resounded in her voice, but Ben had never been one to pick this sort of thing up. "Just pack your things up before hand, we'll leave immediately after finishing our job here." With that she retreated back to Hansel's room.

* * *

Hansel gasped, squeezing his eyes shut as though trying to override the burning pain in his muscles, every fiber was screaming at him, protesting the sudden stress he was putting on them. Beads of sweat rolled down from his forehead and despite hating being the one in need of help, he had to hold onto the supporting hands of Gretel and Edward tightly and bit down on his lower lip.

They had only managed to help him walk for... five steps. It was humiliating, really, to be rendered this weak, helpless and vulnerable. He was wrong, this was even more pathetic than his twelve-year-old self.

"Maybe we should-..." Gretel spoke up gently on his right, he shook his head.

"No." It came out more harshly than it should have, but he was desperate to get back on track, not wanting to rely on others for too long.

"I know that you want to make progress, brother." She tried again. "But pushing far pass your limit will do you more harm than good, and it will only lengthen the time you have to spend in bed." Her grip on his hand was firm and strong. "Please, listen to me."

In the end, she managed to coax him back into sitting on the edge of the bed as he sat there, eyes glued to the ground and listened as his sister thanked the troll then closed the door before sinking down into the spot next to him. Seconds later, he found her handkerchief reaching out to wipe away the sheen of sweat on his skin.

"I'm fine, Gretel." His voice was much softer than last time.

"I know you are." She replied quietly, otherwise continued what she was doing. He wanted to stop her, but thinking about the hurt look flashing through her eyes made him rethink his decision. Even he couldn't deny the immense comfort of getting taken care of by her like this... But it just felt so wrong...

_Quite useless, aren't you?_

His eyes widened, snapping out of his trance and started looking around, eyes darting back and forth in the small room occupied by only the two of them.

"What's wrong?" He heard her asked, but it wasn't until a little later on after he had checked out for countless of times that there was no one there beside him and her did he turn his attention back to her once more.

"It's... It's nothing." He said, but not at all agreeing with it, feeling slightly chilly and sick to his stomach all of a sudden. "I just thought that I heard something." He told her truthfully, hoping to receive some sort of agreement in return.

"Really?" Her eyes started looking around also. "It must have the wind." Apparently, she didn't hear what he had just heard as she stood up and went to close the window as securely as she could after taking a look outside at the falling night.

They had dinner, another day of soup and bread, he appreciated the fact that Gretel tried hard to cook up many a variety of soup, but Hansel didn't think he could live on it for too much longer. Chatting about random things, the siblings talked into the night as Hansel did his best to hold his thoughts from drifting back to the what he had heard, distracting himself with her voice until Gretel gave him his evening shot then started to gather the dishes.

"I think we should call it a day." She smiled gently at him. "It's getting late." He nodded, feeling rather exhausted even though he wanted to say that it wasn't really _that_ late, but he couldn't really help himself. "Good night, Hansel." Gretel planted a kiss on his cheek, hands pulling up the blanket to cover more of his torso.

"Sweet dreams." He whispered back, enjoying as the smile on his sister's lips widened as she turned and left the room, leaving only a small candle behind on the small drawer next to the door.

His grey eyes stared at it, the flickering, weak yet mesmerizing golden light that burned through the darkness, swaying from left to right as if dancing along a tune and rhythm that only it could possibly ever understood. Somehow he felt drawn to it, like a sort of spell, slowly hypnotizing him, not letting his eyes stray to anywhere else.

"Feeling a little artistic tonight, are we?"

His eyes snapped to the far edge of his bed where he definitely had heard the voice coming from, and a figure was sitting there, a dark, dark figure that even the rays of light from the candle couldn't penetrate. His heart raced as he shifted in an attempt to move backward, trying his chances of getting away when that thing was still not looking at him.

Hansel's heart almost stopped when the head of that dark shadow turned suddenly toward him with a kind of speed that was rather hard to understand. It resembled a human being, but the aura was menacing, like a demon disguising itself with a human form.

"Yes." It purred as his eyes widened, was it reading his thoughts?! "And are you trying to run away, dear?"

He was stuck, suddenly feeling even more paralyzed than ever before as he couldn't find his voice... or any word for that matter, to answer. It chuckled, low and chilling with a hint of playfulness in it. And in a split of a second, it was now on top of him, pushing him down easily into the bed despite how much he struggled to get it off of him... Cold breaths brushed against the crook of his neck, burning hot but icy cold as goose bumps traveled through his body, he couldn't but shiver helplessly in pure panic and terror. The heart in his ribcage was thumping loudly and rapidly, almost painfully so too, letting fear freely course through his veins.

"You're supposed to be the protector, the shield... and yet here you are, planning to run away. How low can you stoop?" It whispered mockingly into his ear, the nails of those hands ghosting over his shoulders were now digging into his flesh. It shouldn't have hurt, it shouldn't, but it did, like needles were piercing into his skin. "Don't be such a shameful thing even to yourself, Hansel."

Like the world was once again a place with light, the candle now lit up the dark space along with this figure pressing down on him to reveal bloodshot, wild grey eyes with a malicious and twisted grin, baring the rows of white, glinting teeth much like a predator trying to terrorize its prey and soon-to-be meal.

"_Hello... me."_

* * *

His eyes snapped open, panting as he struggled to sit up. The crushing weight on his body was gone, he flung the bed sheet to the side, turning to look at the candle that had long since burnt out, probably somewhere around early morning... Morning?

From the cracks on the windows, golden beams of sunlight slid through, blending with the sound of chirping birds filled the entire room. He didn't even notice that it was morning already...

"Hansel?" He immediately turned to the door, still feeling rather jumpy, all of this sudden movements were making his head swam, but he didn't really care though... as long as that... shadow had disappeared. It was just a dream... just a dream, he kept on repeating to himself, he wasn't real... that thing... it couldn't possibly had been him. "Shall I bring you some breakfast?" Gretel asked, her soft voice managed to calm down his strained and agitated nerves for a bit as he nodded mutely, and the door was closed gently.

"_It could and it very well is, my dear self."_

* * *

_To be continued..._

* * *

_**A/N:**_Please read and review everyone! Your feedback is very much appreciated!


End file.
